Alexander Zverev threw his racket aside and immediately tore off his sweaty shirt after the next heavy night shift. At 2:15 a.m., the weakening top favorite celebrated his second trembling victory at this US Open with a bare torso - and admitted to himself that he is currently absolutely not in title shape.
“Pretty shit,” was how the 29-year-old assessed his performance in the 6:4, 4:6, 7:6 (7:3), 6:7 (3:7), 6:3 against French outsider Quentin Halys in an on-court interview. "I'm happy that I'm in the third round, but if I keep playing like this, I won't win the tournament," added the Hamburg native a little later in the catacombs of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, before he wanted to go to bed as quickly as possible. "After the last match it was at 6.30 a.m. - I hope a little earlier today."
Nine and a half hours for two games
At the beginning of 27 degrees and high humidity, number one seed Zverev showed a weak performance for a long time in the night session, as he did in the five-set victory at the start over the Italian Lorenzo Sonego. Only after 4:33 hours did he convert the match point under the floodlights in the largest tennis stadium in the world. The Hamburg native has now been on the court for nine and a half hours in just two matches at this Grand Slam tournament.
“I’m proud to be physically strong,” he said of the key to victory. “That’s why I go to the gym, that’s why I train, to have the upper hand when I’m not playing my best tennis.”
It has never happened before in the 58-year history of professional tennis that a top-seeded player needs five sets to win in the first two rounds of a Grand Slam tournament. “I just hope that at some point I will start playing better tennis. I win ugly, that’s also a skill,” said Zverev.
Other top-class opponents are already out
In the third round he will play against number 25 seed Alejandro Tabilo. At the start, the Chilean defeated the German Davis Cup player Yannick Hanfmann in four sets. Zverev is the last remaining of eight German tennis professionals in the tournament. Jan-Lennard Struff, Tatjana Maria and Eva Lys were eliminated on Thursday.
The starting position for Zverev's second Grand Slam title had improved even further. Halfway through the draw for the French Open winner, number three seeded Félix Auger-Aliassime from Canada and Alex de Minaur (6) from Australia failed and are therefore eliminated as potentially top-class opponents in the further course of the tournament. In the absence of world number one Jannik Sinner from Italy, who was missing due to injury, Serbian veteran Novak Djokovic also failed early.
“Mr Zverev’s shoes are completely wet”
Against Halys, Zverev made too many mistakes and missed numerous break opportunities. Only at the end could the world number 52. can no longer keep up.
The strangest scene of the match occurred in the third set: With the score at 2:4 and a break ball in his favor, Zverev suddenly asked for fresh shoes. Referee Robert Balmforth allowed the exchange at an unusual time: "Mr. Zverev's shoes are completely wet, he leaves wet footprints on the pitch." The 29-year-old made the break immediately afterwards and turned the set around.
In the training sessions before the game, Zverev held his wrist and thigh at times with his face distorted in pain. But when things got serious, the 1.98 meter tall giant had no physical symptoms, at least outwardly. After an unspectacular start, Zverev put his opponent under pressure with strong returns, got the break to 5:4 and secured the first set in 38 minutes.
Zverev laments with his followers in the stands
At the start of the night session in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, US star Coco Gauff celebrated an atmospheric victory against the Spaniard Paula Badosa. Afterwards, however, the special crackle in the largest tennis stadium in the world was missing for a long time. Only a spectacular lob from Halys at running back when the score was 5:4 brought the spectators out of their lethargy. As a result, Zverev made three errors on his own serve - suddenly the set was gone.
Even a break at the start of the third round didn't bring any security. Zverev made his opponent, who was actually inferior in terms of play, stronger with a weak serve rate and unnecessary mistakes and gave up his service three times in a row. Zverev repeatedly lamented with his followers around his father and coach Alexander Zverev Senior in the front row of the stands.
The shoe swap followed - and suddenly everything worked. Zverev now dominated the game with more determination and, as so often, showed his nerve in the tie-break. The fourth set was even, but this time Halys was there in the decisive phase.
Things got dramatic. With a slight mistake, Halys gave up his serve to make it 3-2 for Zverev. The world number two complained to the referee that his rackets were returning too slowly from stringing. But Zverev didn't allow himself to be disconcerted and perfected the victory a little later.
