In his serious accident, Zverev was lucky in misfortune. The bone remained undamaged, all three lateral ligaments in the right ankle were torn. He had an operation shortly after the fall. In two or three weeks, Zverev will have another rehab with Klaus Eder, the former physiotherapist for the German national soccer team.
“But I will not be one who plays immediately if he is ready for it the first second. If I play the US Open, then not for one or two rounds, but to win it,” emphasized the second in the world rankings. “I’ll only come back when I’m in this form. I don’t know if it will be the US Open because I have to play one or two tournaments before that. But I haven’t checked off New York yet.”
Zverev is still waiting for his first Grand Slam victory
In Paris, Zverev played at eye level with clay court king Nadal, the dream of his first Grand Slam victory should now live on in New York. For Otte, Wimbledon is realistically about reaching the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time after the US Open last year.
Like Zverev, Otte also had to endure serious setbacks in his career, two years ago he was still outside the top 200 in the world. “The fact that I can now play at the top or even be at the top,” he said, “of course that’s confirmation for me and also makes me super proud.”