Alexander Zverev bite his way through Wimbledon and reached the third round after a marathon match over two days. He could not be stopped by a gastrointestinal virus either.
When Alexander Zverev lost the third set of his match against the American Taylor Fritz on Thursday evening, quite pathetic with a 7-0 tiebreak, he was in a hurry. A few times Zverev had asked the referee to break off the match – because of the increasing darkness, because of the slippery run on Court 1 – now Zverev didn’t wait for the verdict of the impartial, he got ready to leave, he just wanted to leave.
And indeed: While the fight continued in other places and defending champion Garbine Muguruza, for example, retired considerably later, Zverev was out of shift for the time being. The young German now knows how to assert his interests in big tennis, as number 3 in the world rankings he is no one.
The next day, however, everything was different in this long-charged, exciting, totally intense match: Fritz, formerly like Zverev the best junior player in the world, was no longer the Fritz of Thursday. And Zverev was once again the Zverev he was supposed to be here in Wimbledon: a man who must be counted among the favourites with self-confidence and determination after a strong season so far.
It did not even take an hour until Zverev had conjured up his comeback in a suddenly dominant pose on the tennis green, in the extra time of the 6:4, 5:7, 6:7, 6:1, 6:2 second round victory could no longer be spoken of a duel at eye level. “It’s not a great feeling to lie back in bed,” said Zverev, who also recovered from problems with a gastrointestinal virus, “all the better now that victory is. I’m really happy.”
Zverev’s unleashing act moved in Parisian Grand Slam footsteps. There, at the French Open, Zverev had caused a sensation with three comeback victories after trailing 1:2 sets. In his smooth quarter-final defeat against the Austrian Dominic Thiem, he suffered from physical wear and tear after hours of slide practice.
This danger is not yet threatening in Wimbledon, even after the 189-minute drama against Fritz, after this game with two different faces for both protagonists. On Saturday, without a breather, Zverev continues against Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, a former top ten man who had crashed severely in his capricious career. And who is just slowly but persistently fighting his way back up. “There are no easy opponents here,” Zverev told his next opponent, “Ernests can beat anyone on a good day.”
To get into the second Wimbledon week for the first time – and thus also into the round of 16 Monday, the biggest day of the entire tennis year – Zverev must continue where he left off against Fritz on Friday. In the role of the man who decides the game himself and does not wait until his opponent makes a mistake. “Zverev needs courage, courage and the will to take risks. That which distinguishes him in his best moments,” said TV expert John McEnroe, “he had the necessary package against Fritz on the home stretch.
New day, new play feeling, new luck: For two sentences, the 21-year-old actually did only little wrong in his overtime. He also managed the trick of being much more gripping and powerful and at the same time reducing his number of mistakes to a minimum. After just 21 minutes, Zverev had equalled the sets 6-1 to 2-2, and even in the last act of the match, the hamburger’s superiority did not change much.
When Zverev’s match ball saw Fritz’s return clap behind the baseline, Zverev shot the ball high up into the sky over Court 1, Wimbledon continues with him. With the German Drama King