In a thrilling final, Alexander Zverev loses to a youngster in his home town. The Hamburg native also has to fight with his body
Alexander Zverev waved the consolation prize into the audience and looked around his tennis living room with a slightly dazed expression. “What a week. I couldn’t have imagined at the beginning with my pain that I’d be standing here with the trophy. Unfortunately with the wrong one, but I had so many emotions in me,” said Zverev after the mood dampener in his home town – and was able to smile again.
The Olympic champion missed out on repeating last year’s triumph in his home match in Hamburg after a cracking match. Type 1 diabetic Zverev, who also struggled with his blood sugar in the high heat in the Hanseatic city, suffered an unexpected setback just under a week before the start of his title defense mission at the Paris Games.
“Had 22 break points and only used one “
“I would like to thank you for a week that I will never forget, even if it didn’t work out with the title defense,” said Zverev at the award ceremony – and added a challenge to his team. “We want to be number one in the world at the end of the year.”
In the heated final at the Rothenbaum, the 27-year-old lost 3:6, 6:3, 6:7 (1:7) to the strong Frenchman Arthur Fils after a marathon match – he must therefore continue to wait for his 23rd tournament title on the ATP Tour. The world number 28 Fils converted his first match point after an adventurous 3:33 hours.
Zverev’s battered and bandaged left knee didn’t seem to cause him any major problems on Sunday, but the over 30 degrees in his home town did – he was visibly struggling with discomfort in the first round. “My blood sugar was very low. That made me a bit dizzy in the first set – and as we were playing in 31 degrees, I felt sick,” explained Zverev, who finally got his problems under control with electrolytes.
“But that wasn’t the reason why I lost,” said Zverev. Last year, he had fulfilled his childhood dream of winning the title at home, but this time he failed to make the most of his numerous chances and ultimately suffered a deserved defeat. “I had 22 break points and only used one – that doesn’t help.”
Zverev struggled to win his second title of the year against Fils right from the start, but forced the deciding set with an improved performance in the second round. At the beginning of the match, the roof of the arena was closed due to a heavy summer thunderstorm.
Zverev, who travels on to Paris on Tuesday, was happy about the falling temperatures, but tempers did not cool down at all during the high-class match. As thunder rumbled outside the arena, the opponents also clashed loudly during a change of sides – in the end, the Frenchman was jubilant after one of the longest finals in the history of three-win set matches on the ATP Tour.
