It’s strange times. For Alexander Zverev too. Because almost nobody is allowed to travel because of Corona, the top tennis player cannot see his girlfriend.
Tampa/Hamburg – It’s strange times. Also for Alexander Zverev (23). Germany’s best tennis player had imagined his birthday quite differently.
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The German tennis player speaks in an interview while attending the Mexican Open 2020 in Acapulco. © Francisco Estrada / NOTIMEX / dpa
Eat comfortably in Monte Carlo with his girlfriend, celebrate a bit and then continue to Munich for the BMW Open. The past Monday would have been similar in normal times for the hamburger.
But because of the corona virus pandemic, nothing is normal at the moment, which is why the 23-year-old Zverev is not traveling from clay court tournament to clay court tournament in Europe these weeks, but is training in Florida and waiting for a restart – and even waiting for his girlfriend Brenda Patea has to do without.
“She flew back to Germany after my tournament in Mexico at the end of February and actually wanted to come back to Miami in March,” said Zverev in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency.
However, because all tennis operations have been suspended since the beginning of March and US President Donald Trump has banned entry into the USA, the former Germany’s next top model candidate was no longer allowed to enter the country.
“So we haven’t seen each other for almost two months now. Hopefully that will change again soon and then we won’t be able to divide anytime soon,” said Zverev.
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Alexander Zverev bei den Australian Open in Melbourne. © Andy Brownbill/AP/dpa
But Germany’s best tennis player will have to do without his partner for a while. And so the native of Hamburg uses the time to train as much as possible.
Zverev is currently in Florida with his parents and his brother’s family. In a small village near Tampa, the seventh in the world rankings is preparing for the moment no one knows when it will come: the resumption of tennis.
“Of course it’s not always easy. You don’t really know what you’re training for. But I now see it as an effort for the next few years,” said Zverev. He is currently working on his serve and backhand. “And because I play more aggressively, I go online more,” said Zverev.
After a few catastrophic appearances at the ATP Cup earlier this year, Zverev was actually on the right track. In Melbourne he reached the semi-finals for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament, where he was defeated by the Austrian Dominic Thiem in a gripping duel.
For him, the corona break comes at the wrong time. “I felt that I could play really well, that I was very close to being at the forefront of a Grand Slam tournament,” said Zverev. Tennis legend Boris Becker would also have believed Zverev a lot in the further course of the season. “That was a quantum leap for him,” said Becker, who is always there to advise the 1.98-meter blond boy.
But first of all Zverev was stopped by the Corona crisis. So far, the tour is suspended until mid-July – an extension is very likely. Nobody can currently imagine that the US Open will begin on August 31 in New York as planned. But Zverev is confident that there will still be play this year. “I think the ATP has to see what is possible when. But if it doesn’t work in the USA, it might work in Europe.”
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The eleven-time ATP tournament winner could also imagine tournaments without spectators. It would be a shame, but: “At the end of the day I would rather play without a spectator than not to play at all.” Especially since that would mean that he and the tennis team could then travel again – and that he could finally see his girlfriend again.
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