ATP Masters Monte-Carlo: Zverev after beating Bublik - "Couldn't be happier"
Work victory at the start of the clay court season: After a weak start, AlexanderZverev reached the second round of the ATP Masters in Monte Carlo - but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
by SID
last edit:
Apr 11, 2023, 03:43 pm
Suddenly Alexander Zverev was back in the sand - and memories were awakened. But he quickly put his thumb in the air: everything is okay. At least with his ankle. In a playful way, Zverev revealed enormous shortcomings when he started the sand season, but showed fighting spirit in his adopted home of Monte Carlo: After two hours of ups and downs, he defeated Kazakh Alexander Bublik 3: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4.
"I felt terrible at times because he often made me look terrible," said Zverev and yet "could hardly be happier". Because: "I always look bad against him. He hardly lets me play my game and doesn't give me any rhythm."
No physical problems at Zverev
But the truth was also: Zverev is far from the top form of the 2022 season, which ended with a serious ankle injury at the French Open. He had announced that he wanted to show his best tennis on sand. He hadn't been able to do that on hard court, at the Masters in Miami he was knocked out in the first round.
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Zverev (25) revealed before the start of the tournament that he also took the hip injury to Monte Carlo. There were no physical problems against Bublik - not even after the fall in the second set. But Zverev needs to step up to beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round. Against the sometimes ingenious, but often sloppy Bublik, not only his first serve wobbled.
Sand probably "most natural surface"
Precision was too often lacking, and tactically Bublik remains a mystery for Zverev anyway. Zverev had clearly lost the first two duels in 2021 in Rotterdam and 2022 in Montpellier in the hall on hard court. This time, too, Bublik brought him back to the net with countless stop balls, Zverev didn't like that at all, and for a long time he looked in vain for a remedy.
It was Bublik's dropouts that opened the door to the match for the Olympic champion: The outsider served seven double mistakes in the second set, Zverev stabilized and followed his Davis Cup colleague Jan-Lennard Struff (32) into the second round. The qualifier had already won his opening match at the first clay court Masters of the season on Monday and now meets Alex de Minaur (Australia).
For Zverev, Monte Carlo is initially about working back the self-evident fact of the successful days before his injury. After two weeks of training on sand, "probably his most natural surface", he's obviously not ready yet. After all, the ankle injury is no longer an issue. "My footwork was probably the best today," said Zverev.
Here the individual tableau in Monte Carlo
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