Alexander Zverev still beating that comeback trail

ATP Tour
Alexander Zverev during a match

Alexander Zverev is on a journey to get back to his best having admitted that some days feel better than others.

Zverev missed the second half of the 2022 season after a nightmare ligament tear at the French Open.

He now says that he is physically at 100 percent but some days he struggles to find his best level.

There has been enough encouragement for Zverev to believe that the day will come that he gets back to his best.

“It does make me realize that if I get back to 100, that’s where I can be,” Zverev said according to Tennis Majors.

“It’s all about me getting back and I know the player that I was and I know that I can get back there.”

Zverev has been ancouraged by some of his recent efforts in running top players close and going deep in tournaments.

“Some weeks I feel so close,” he said. “I have some weeks. I feel like I can win the tournament again. Some weeks, like Indian Wells. I feel like if I can get past that Medvedev match (a round of 16 loss in three sets), I can end up in the final and play the final against Alcaraz. Monte-Carlo, same thing (also a round of 16 loss to Medvedev) and then there’s obviously weeks like Miami where I get a little bit injured. There’s weeks like Munich where I don’t quite play my best tennis again, and you feel like you’re so far away.

“For me, I think it’s about winning those matches right now. It’s about winning those very tight matches against great opponents and then you can say you are back but you definitely need to win one or two of those.”

He would also admit that the injury has given him a fresh perspective on life and tennis.

“For the initial injury. You know, you broke seven ligaments.

“You need surgery, you need time to heal, but the things that come during and you know, I thought I was going to play or a few months before I did.

“And then obviously all those setbacks you have got to accept. That was a little bit unfortunate but things happen I can live with it. I can live with it as well because it happened during the semi-finals of the French Open while I was trying to achieve a lifetime goal.

“It didn’t happen snowboarding or skiing or something like that. It wasn’t a stupid accident.

“You know at the end of the day I realized what life without tennis is like now because before that you don’t think about it when you’re travelling 11 months a year you’re just in the tunnel kind of in your way you’re just continuing to do the same thing over and over again.

“You don’t appreciate it. Appreciate playing in front of the biggest stadiums in the world you don’t appreciate the greatest cities in the world.

“So that made me miss those things and I think hopefully I’m ready for for something new and something big.”

Alexander Zverev

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