Zverev bitter knockout round
When Alexander Zverev surprisingly had to congratulate the 14th seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov in Melbourne on Sunday evening, the brother seemed calm in the box. Mischa Zverev even had the leisure to fulfill an autograph request. Then his head went off and he left the arena like the rest of the team in no time at all.
The straight three-set defeat (3: 6, 6: 7, 3: 6) in the round of 16 of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year is the biggest disappointment in the career of the world number three, who then presented himself self-critically. He couldn’t find an explanation for what happened.
Zverev played weak, slow and uninspired
Except for a short phase at the beginning of the first set, Zverev seemed powerless, slow, uninspired and error-prone in the second largest stadium in the facility. Confidence in himself and his game, which will make him six in 2021 ATPtitles including Olympic victory and in two Grand Slam semifinals, Zverev never had.
Less than 45 minutes after the match, Zverev trotted into the newly created press conference room, head down, eyes on the horizon. Arriving at the desk, he supported his head with his hands and hid large parts of his facial features with his tousled blond hair.
Zverev: “You can hop around as you want“
When asked by Sportschau whether he shouldn’t have pulled himself up emotionally towards the end of the match, he replied calmly: “I tried. I broke the racquet in set two. I don’t do it without a reason either.”
He tried to pump himself up. “But if you play that badly, you can jump around all you want. It does not change anything“, summed up Zverev, who was considered a favorite in Melbourne in the absence of Novak Djokovic alongside Russian Daniil Medvedev and Nadal.
Neither sick nor injured
When asked about his big goals and the view of the world rankings, the German said self-critically: “After a match like that, it would be stupid to talk about it. I have to take care of myself first“He felt slow on the pitch, but he wasn’t handicapped or sick.”There are no excuses.”