After winning his first collegiate match in the ATP season finale in Turin, Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev gravitated to training a bit. Even just before midnight, the 24-year-old did not have enough after his duel with Italian Matteo Berrettini ended abruptly.
“The central court is faster than the training grounds, and I wasn’t able to train much on the center court,” the world number three explained: “That’s why I wanted to find my rhythm a little bit on the center court.”
Previously, Italian Wimbledon finalist Berrettini had to give up the injury at 7:6 (9:7), 1:0 for Zverev after receiving treatment in his abs. “We’re playing in Italy. I think he’s been looking forward to the action all year and now it’s over with one sentence. That’s a dirty feeling. I sympathize with him,” Zverev said. Previous This is something he “misses a lot in tennis right now”.
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With this success, the German top seed secured a step on the hoped-for path to the semi-finals, which the best players in each group will reach. On Monday (2pm/sky), Serbia’s world number one Novak Djokovic will make his debut in the other preliminary round of the ATP Finals. The 34-year-old has to deal with 12-year-old Norwegian Kasper Ruud. The second singles match Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Andrey Rublev of Russia.
Zverev will return on Tuesday and will then challenge last year’s Russian winner and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Against second place in the world rankings, Zverev was clearly left behind in Paris. (dpa)
