Germany’s best tennis player talks about his tough road back after injury – and makes an announcement.
The shock has long since been digested, the consequences of the operation have healed. And in the meantime, the hard work in the market town of Donaustauf is paying off. “The rehab is going according to plan,” Alexander Zverev announced via the German Tennis Federation. A plan that will culminate in a successful return to the court – possibly as world number 1.
Zverev could take the historic step to the throne, which Boris Becker is the only German to have achieved in the men’s singles so far, on 15 August. Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev is under pressure: In the coming week in Los Cabos/Mexico and above all at the ATP Masters in Montreal/Canada (from 7 August), the Russian must score points to stay ahead of Zverev.
The Hamburg player has had the chance to take the lead in the world rankings several times this year. Unlike this time, he had it in his own hands. At the Australian Open, however, Zverev surprisingly failed in the round of 16, and at the French Open he badly twisted his ankle in the semi-final against Grand Slam record champion Rafael Nadal: the beginning of his time of suffering.
“I can’t wait “
It’s slowly coming to an end, even if his start at the US Open (from 29 August) is in doubt. “I want to win every tournament I play. That’s my character. I don’t go to events just to take part in them,” Zverev recently told eurosport.de. In other words, he doesn’t want to compete again until he has made up for his lack of training after his ankle injury.
New York could indeed be too early for that, the next goal would then be: Davis Cup in Hamburg. “I can hardly wait to finally serve in front of my home crowd,” said Zverev. The German team will play France (14th), Belgium (16th) and Australia (18th) in mid-September for a place in the finals. With the Olympic champion, the chances would increase.
For this, Zverev toiled with the specialists at the “Eden Reha” clinic run by physiotherapist Klaus Eder in Donaustauf. Three weeks, up to eight treatments a day. He only took a break on Sundays. “Germany’s greatest athletes have already been here, and there’s a reason for that,” Zverev told the Donaukurier, explaining the choice of the Upper Palatinate province for his rehabilitation work.
Back in his adopted home of Monte Carlo, the fine-tuning for the comeback is to follow, with Zverev coordinating the timing with the “experts”, “who know my body better than I do myself”. He would certainly not oppose a return as nominally the best tennis player in the world. It would be a curious footnote to his painful summer of 2022.