With a fighting heart for a comeback victory: Alexander Zverev’s return to the big tennis stage was successful with a lot of effort.
The Olympic champion from Hamburg beat Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas 4: 6, 6: 1, 5: 7, 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 4 at the Australian Open seven and a half months after his severe ankle injury and screamed for it out his joy.
“I’m tired, but extremely happy. I missed it. This win alone was worth the work of the last few months,” said Zverev after the success that took him more than four hours: “I can’t wait for the rest of the tournament . It’s already a success for me and I didn’t have any expectations.”
The longtime top player was in a duel with the world number 103. Still far from his best form, but with strong nerves he prevented his first defeat in Melbourne since his debut in 2016. He also broke the ban Down Under and got his first win after seven German opening defeats. Jan-Lennard Struff had previously been beaten by the favorite American Tommy Paul 1: 6, 6: 7 (6: 8), 2: 6.
Zverev now against Mmoh or Lokoli
Zverev, semi-finalist of 2020, meets Michael Mmoh (USA) or Laurent Lokoli (France) in the second round. Before the game, he had admitted that he was not yet in the form of the French Open, where he twisted his ankle in the semifinals against Rafael Nadal and then had to pause for a long time after a necessary operation.
The former world number two lost his two preparatory games for the Australian Open and emphasizes that he is not approaching the tournament in the role of a possible title contender.
This was confirmed in the first set, in which Zverev was far from the dominance of an absolute top player. His serve was uncertain, the forehand had an unusual spread. Varillas tried to let the hamburger run and kept playing stops, like the set ball, which affected Zverev.
But the 25-year-old was able to raise his level significantly, in the second set he wanted to get over the Peruvian. The favorite initially seemed to use this momentum for themselves in the third set, but gave back a break lead and enabled Varillas to win the set with his weak second serve. Then the German number one showed strong nerves, earned the decisive sentence and brought home the success.
Heat makes things difficult for the players
The game took place under the closed roof of the Margaret Court Arena to reduce the exposure of the professionals to the extreme temperatures. Players and spectators groaned under the enormous heat of 36 degrees on Tuesday, which ultimately led to a longer break on the outdoor courts.
The break in the game affected the beginning of the matches between Struff (Warstein), Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau) and Laura Siegemund (Metzingen). At around 2 p.m. local time (4 a.m. CET), the highest of the five-point heat stress scale of the tournament in Melbourne, which also includes radiant heat, humidity and wind speed, was reached. The matches resumed three hours later.