Alexander Zverev’s plane to Paris makes emergency landing after being struck by lightning
Alexander Zverev has revealed that his plane – from Hamburg to Paris – was forced to make an emergency landing after being struck by lightning, forcing a late arrival.
Zverev was – most recently – sensationally knocked out of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg, having been beaten by Alexandre Muller in the round of 16, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5).
“My trip over was phenomenal, actually,” the world No 3 stated, during his French Open press conference.
“Some funny stories there. My trip here was funny because we were supposed to fly yesterday evening at 6.45pm. We took off from Hamburg and we were flying together with [Jiri] Lehecka, [Brandon] Nakashima, some doubles guys – and we got struck by lightning.
“So we had to do an emergency landing back in Hamburg. Couldn’t find another plane, so everybody else flew the next morning. I took another plane and flew around 1am, so I arrived here at 3am.
“So that was quite funny. It was the first time [in my] experience [that a plane was] struck by lightning mid-air, which is funny because it was a little noise, no real wobbling, nothing, but yeah. So that was my trip over. Best story of Roland Garros so far.”
The German is the defending finalist at the Parisian Grand Slam, with 1300 of his current ranking points coming from last year’s result.
In the showpiece match, Zverev fell to world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz in a dramatic 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 final – with the Spaniard becoming the youngest man to win a Grand Slam title on all three surfaces.
As a result of being the third seed, Zverev has his own quarter within the draw.
In the section, the three-time Grand Slam finalist will face Learner Tien – who beat Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open – in the first round, with Felix Auger-Aliassime being the other seed within his eighth.
Later in the draw, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev lurk as potential quarter-final opponents, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner projected to be Zverev’s last-four opponent.
Meanwhile, his 2024-conqueror – Alcaraz – is in the other half of the men’s singles draw, meaning that they could only meet in the final, once again.
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“Well, I think the first few matches will be very important for me, for sure,” analysed Zverev.
“But again, Roland Garros is different to all the other tournaments on clay. This is a Grand Slam. We’re playing best-of-five sets. A lot of other things come into consideration here.
“Physical comes into consideration here a lot more than all the other events where we’re playing best-of-three sets and I have a day off in between. This is obviously very, very different.
“So, you know, I remember last year Carlos was kind of being asked the same questions, because he had a very bad clay court season, and he came in here, was maybe struggling a bit more in the early rounds, but then found his rhythm and won the tournament.
“I’m not saying that will happen to me, but of course that’s what I’m looking for.
“That’s kind of the path I’m looking forward to going, as well. For me, the goal remains the same. Did I have the best preparation? Probably not, especially with the illness in Hamburg. I know that. So that’s what I’m saying.
“It is crucial for me to play well in the early stages. But yeah, we’ll see how it goes. I’m excited for this tournament. I’m excited for another opportunity, especially after the Australian Open. It will be great to come back on a Grand Slam court, yeah, hopefully take my chances.”
His comments come after a string of disappointing results since making the Australian Open final, failing to make a semi-final at any event other than the ATP 500 in Munich – which he won.
