The Masters Tournament in Indian Wells is turning into a debacle for the German participants. The last hope: Australian Open finalist Alexander Zverev.
At the Masters Tournament in Indian Wells, USA, the German tennis pros have got off to a difficult start. With the exception of Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, all of them have already failed in the first round.
Jan-Lennard Struff lost to the Frenchman Gaël Monfils with 4:6, 4:6. The tournament was also over quickly for Tatjana Maria: she lost clearly with 1:6, 1:6 against the Swiss Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. Jule Niemeier had already been eliminated the day before.
Zverev has a bye – and explains his change of surface
Alexander Zverev, the number one seed, was not required to play in the first round and will not enter the hard court tournament in California until the second round. There he will face the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. The last time the Hamburg native reached the final of a hard court tournament was at the Australian Open, but after that he had no success in three clay competitions in South America.
In Indian Wells, Zverev said: “Maybe that wasn’t the right decision, especially after reaching the final at the Australian Open, maybe I should have stayed on hard court a little longer.” Nevertheless, he defended his decision to switch to clay early in the season with the French Open in mind. “I just wanted to play on clay and find my game there as quickly as possible.” He said that he had often had problems in the past during the first few weeks on this surface. That’s why he wanted to find his rhythm early on in order to be as well prepared as possible for Paris.
