On the fourth day of the tournament, Alexander Zverev was finally allowed onto the pitch. Before that he had to wait because of the rain. The Olympic champion from Hamburg showed only limited understanding for this.
Alexander Zverev has criticized the organizers of Wimbledon for the appointments of the past few days. Because of the heavy rain in London, the Olympic tennis champion played his first-round game against Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer on Thursday instead of Tuesday.
Other players such as record Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or the Italian Jannik Sinner had already played their second round games in London on Wednesday. “Novak has won 23 Grand Slam tournaments. It’s logical that he plays every game here on Center Court,” said Zverev. “He’ll never play second place anywhere, and that’s totally understandable.” And Zverev added: “Novak also said that it’s actually not right.”
Misunderstanding about appointments
However, the fact that the 21-year-old Sinner was scheduled for the second time in the second largest stadium on Wednesday, while Zverev had not yet played, caused a lack of understanding among the German number one. “I like Jannik very much – as a person and as a player,” Zverev said in advance. “He’s an incredible player and will still win a lot. But there were other names in the draw who hadn’t played the first round yet. Like Matteo Berrettini, who was already in the final here, or me,” said Zverev.
“I don’t know whether you have to put Jannik on a pitch with a roof for a second-round match. There were other names who have achieved more in tennis than Jannik. I think they had options there,” said Zverev.
Delay causes deadline stress
The delays on Tuesday and Wednesday forced Zverev to play again this Friday. The 26-year-old now has to deal with the Japanese lucky loser Yosuke Watanuki after his lackluster three-set win against Brouwer. The 116th in the world rankings was initially a blank slate for the Olympic champion. “But there is the beautiful YouTube system,” said Zverev when asked about the preparation.
“There is a reason why a Grand Slam tournament lasts two weeks: because we need breaks between the best-of-five matches,” said Zverev. “Breaks that I won’t have in the next few days. Looking ahead to the second week, that’s definitely not an advantage physically.”
Hamburg resident Korpatsch also in action
Right at the beginning of the fifth day of the tournament, Jule Niemeier and Tamara Korpatsch from Hamburg are on the pitch. Niemeier meets the Hungarian Dalma Galfi, Korpatsch plays against Natalija Stevanovic from Serbia. Maximilian Marterer is also on duty. The qualifier from Nuremberg is already fighting against Kazakh Alexander Bublik for a place in the round of 16.
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Sports current | 07.07.2023 | 5:17 p.m
