Story of the week! Zverev is back and announces his assault on the Halle trophy

Alexander Zverev was considered as one of the possible successors of the star trio Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. After an injury last year, he is trying to recapture the aforementioned position. It seems that the German tennis player is poised for very good results. He now starts his tennis career in Halle.

Last year at the French Open, Alexander Zverev was in the middle of a big battle with Rafael Nadal when the Hamburg native suffered a nasty injury. After nearly three hours of play, he was forced to abandon the match. Nadal subsequently had no problem triumphing in the final. Zverev was facing a long treatment and search for form.

It seems that the 2020 Olympic champion has already found it. At this year’s Roland Garros he reached the semi-finals again. In no match up to this stage of the Paris Grand Slam had he lost more than one set. Losing in three sets to Ruud was unexpectedly clear-cut, but equalling last year’s result at the French Open seems to confirm that Zverev is back where he was.

Is Zverev really the man to replace legends like Novak Djokovic at the top soon? Some tennis experts believe that he has already missed the train, popularly speaking, and point to more promising players like Alcaraz. He will attempt to conquer the prestigious Queen’s Club this week.

The German tennis player must therefore fight for his position as crown prince, but he certainly has confidence in his abilities. And he’s doing everything he can to succeed. He was the first to arrive on the practice courts at his home tournament in Halle. And from his point of view, everything looks positive.

It’s time to win here

The tournament in Halle is important for Zverev. Not only is it the biggest event in Germany, he also has many memories of it. For example, the doubles matches alongside his brother, but especially his singles matches. One match in particular. In 2016, he beat Roger Federer here in the semi-finals for the first time in his career.

But then he fell short to Mayer in the final. And Zverev still lacks a title from this domestic event. “It’s time to change that,” the 26-year-old briefly described his goals for the official German tournament website.

Opening match

The former world number two reached the seeded player position in Halle. In the opening match he will face a player who actually has a similar fate. He too has been up a lot and he too is trying to return to more prestigious places. But Austrian Dominic Thiem has been searching for form for longer and with less success than the home player.

Thiem has only won two duels out of his last seven opportunities, and he’s been making the rounds mainly in Challengers. He will be playing a wild card in Halle. The former world number three is now only at the bottom of the top 100 in the ATP rankings. He shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for the upstart Zverev.

Finally..

In the match of two former players from the highest ranks of the ATP, the home tennis player is the clear favourite. Alexander Zverev wants to succeed at the event in Halle and is playing in much better form than his Austrian opponent. A return of Thiem among the best would be a nice story, however, at the moment it would be close to a miracle.

Source: ATP Halle, Tennisexplorer