Alexander Zverev says he threw up ’37 times’ before worrying Hamburg loss
Alexander Zverev suffered a shocking 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) loss to Alexandre Muller in the second-round of Hamburg.
The German battled back from a break down in the third set to take the match to a tiebreak in which he led 4-2, but ultimately was outlasted by the Frenchman.
Zverev has been in poor form since reaching his third Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in January, failing to reach a semi-final in all but one tournament (Munich ATP 500).
The former world No 2 is defending 1300 ranking points at the French Open, which he has just days to prepare for. Currently in the live rankings, Zverev is sitting on 7285 points with Carlos Alcaraz having 8850 – an insurmountable gap, even if the Spaniard were to lose his opening match in Paris.
However, Zverev did admit that he was severely under the weather during his Hamburg match against Muller.
“For the fact that I threw up 37 times and had a fever of 39.4 degrees all night, that’s actually quite okay,” joked the German.
“I think there are two players in the whole world who would have taken to the court today. I’m one of them. And I’m really proud of that.”
“I was two points away from winning the match. There’s a lot to be said in my favour.
“I think I played a solid and good match. But he realised at some point that I wasn’t feeling well and then went on playing the points for as long as possible. That was clever on his part.
“I’ll get healthy first and then see. But nothing will change for me for Paris. I still want to show good tennis there and win a lot of matches.”
Coming into the match, Muller possessed a 0-5 record against opponents ranked inside the world’s top five and had a 0-2 record against the three-time Grand Slam finalist, including a straight-forward loss in Munich just weeks prior.
“It wasn’t easy, today the conditions were really tough, so windy,” stated the Frenchman, after his victory over Zverev.
“It was difficult to read the wind, but I’m happy with the win, of course. It was difficult to manage the tough moments, but very happy about the win.
“A little bit [nervous], not too much though because I have had a pretty good season and I have a lot of confidence on the court. Some great passing shots and I’m very happy.
“It’s a great victory, when I won Hong Kong, it’s very important for my confidence and I’m trying to keep it for myself and it’s great.
“[On the underarm serve] I saw the crowd didn’t like it, but I thought it was a great shot to do at that moment, I was not with the wind and he was far from the baseline, so, for me, it was a great tactic.”
Muller will next face Felix Auger-Aiassime in the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Open
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The disappointing results seem to have partially stemmed from a passive performance against Jannik Sinner in the final of the first Grand Slam of the season.
“Mentally after Australia, it did affect me a lot,” the German stated, in April.
“I was very upset. I was very tired also. I came back here, started training straight away, and I went to South America, so I didn’t really have time to process what happened, losing another Grand Slam final, but still having good tournament. I kind of just kept going, which maybe wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
“That was a decision that I made, but it’s ok. You live and learn kind of and at the end of the day. It doesn’t affect me now anymore, I’m past that stage.
Now it’s just about getting some good wins, getting a good tournament in, and hopefully getting back to being one of the best players in the world.”
