Alexander Zverev drags himself towards the end of the season in London. But the holiday will have to wait a little longer. Against John Isner, Zverev has the entry into the semi-finals in his own hands.
Alexander Zverev has been longing for his vacation for weeks, it has long been booked. A few days in Dubai, then snorkeling in the Maldives. Zverev urgently needs recovery from what he considers to be an “absurd” long tennis season and almost eleven months of tinkering around the globe. “At some point you’re just mentally and physically at the end,” said Zverev before his final and decisive group match at the ATP Final in London.
The 21-year-old has long since reached his own limits after 74 official matches in 2018. “He hasn’t been in top shape for two months now”, said Zverev, who was also occasionally in the double with his brother Mischa. The tournament weeks at the Hopman Cup in Australia and at the Laver Cup in the USA don’t appear in the statistics at all, but they have also eaten up the reserves of the Hamburg native.
“Watch the ATP Finals in Germany now and be there live for only € 9,99 with the Sky Ticket until the end of December. Just cancel monthly.”
Zverev is facing a feat of strength when he plays against John Isner from the USA on Friday (15.00 CET/Sky) for a place in the semi-finals. His chances are still good despite the sobering 4:6, 1:6 against the Serbian Novak Djokovic, anyway he has the qualification for the knockout round with a victory in his hands. If Djokovic helps Marin Cilic, Zverev even suffers a narrow defeat.
Isner, who has so far been without a win, is also occupied with other things: In London he learned of the death of his former fitness trainer Kyle Morgan. It is “very difficult to go out there and play”, Isner said after the 7:6 (7:2), 3:6, 4:6 against the Croatian Cilic on late Wednesday evening.
Zverev, on the other hand, is “only” tired, which doesn’t exactly lift his spirits in London. The curse of the good deed, the semi-finals and finals of the season, the weeks in hotels and the air travel – all these have left their mark. In addition, Zverev, with his justified criticism of the ATP calendar, has to put up with questions about his season planning. As lucrative as tournaments in Rotterdam, Acapulco or Beijing are – were they absolutely necessary?
No colleague expresses his dissatisfaction with the schedule on the tennis tour as clearly as Zverev, but the modest sporting level among the eight best of the season speaks for itself. Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) are not even present in London due to injury, and even Roger Federer (Switzerland) and Djokovic, who had planned and forced breaks in 2018, are dragging their feet towards the end.
“Watch the ATP Finals in Austria now and be there live for only € 9,99 with the Sky Ticket until the end of December. Just cancel monthly.”
“Certainly, there is a lack of substance compared to the start of the season,” said Djokovic, who has already qualified for the semi-finals and demands a rethink: “We have the longest season of all sports, and we are constantly adding new events. We need to put more emphasis on quality rather than quantity.”
Zverev will have been delighted to hear the opinion of the world’s top ranked team, and less so of the ATP: they presented a new team format in London on Thursday that will take place in Australia only a few weeks after the controversial Davis Cup final in 2020.