Alexander Zverev takes late Barcelona wild card, joining Nadal and Thiem
Five months ago, the 21-year-old Alexander Zverev stood at the top of the tennis world with the ATP Finals trophy in his hands, wrapping up the season in style and hoping for more of the same in 2019. Nonetheless, the young German has had a mediocre start of the new year, scoring just 12 wins in the first 18 matches and struggling with injuries and form to stand far behind the best players in the world on the ATP Race. Losing another tight Hopman Cup final versus Roger Federer and Switzerland, Zverev suffered two minor injuries ahead of the Australian Open where Milos Raonic defeated him in the fourth round, with Alexander winning just two games in the opening two sets.
A month later he was the finalist in Acapulco, beaten by Nick Kyrgios and missing the only chance so far in 2019 to lift the trophy. Playing way below his 100%, Alexander lost early at Indian Wells and Miami and decided to take a wild card in Marrakech, desperate for more matches before Monte Carlo. That didn't help either, halted by Jaume Munar in the second round for another big setback before the third Masters 1000 event of the season where he played in the semis a year ago. After a solid start, Zverev had to leave the tournament much earlier than he was hoping for, bowing out in the third round after a 7-6, 6-1 loss to Fabio Fognini.
The German was two points away from taking the opener twice in the tie break but it wasn't to be for him, losing focus in the pivotal moments and fading from the court in the rest of the encounter for another tough loss and setback before the rest of the dirt season. Trying to fix his game and get back on the winning way, the German has asked for a last minute wild card for the ATP 500 event in Barcelona next week, joining Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and Kei Nishikori in the strong draw.
Alexander will kick off the third Barcelona campaign as the second seed and he should expect hard obstacles right from the opening match, considering his current form and the quality of the field. His first two Trofeo Conde de Godo runs were not that good, losing both times before the quarter-final and hoping to change that in the week to come before heading to Munich where he has to defend the title won last spring.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Ix4ywq
No comments