Alexander Zverev has admitted that his he lost his “biggest weapon” during his US Open loss to Carlos Alcaraz because of an injury he picked up during the match.
The 26-year-old revealed that he felt something in his hamstring glute in the start of the second frame which affected his serve in the remainder of match. Zverev lost 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 against the #1 and defending US Open champion in the quarterfinal clash at the New York major. The German came entered the final 8 after going through a 5-set grueling battle against #6 seed Italian Jannik Sinner; the R16 match lasted over 4 hours and 40 minutes.
After his straight sets defeat against the Spaniard, the #12 seed explained how he started to struggle physically in the after the opening set of the last 8 clash.
“I was in the match the first set, yeah. I could have broken, it could have gone my way, it didn’t. Then the second set I felt something in my hamstring glute, left side. I couldn’t push off on my serve anymore,” said the former US Open runner-up in his press conference.
“My serve speed was down quite a lot compared to the other days. Against him especially I needed a good serving day otherwise it would have been difficult. Yeah, I think my biggest weapon was kind of taken away after the first set, and yeah, it’s difficult to even compete if you don’t have that.”
Zverev cleared that the issue surfaced in the quarters and had no prior existence.
“No, I felt nothing (in the Sinner match). I felt nothing going into the match. Yeah, it just kind of appeared. The problem is that it’s really bothered me,” continued the 26-year-old.
“It bothered me running a little bit, but the biggest problem is pushing off on my serve. Yeah, I think if the serve speed goes down, percentage goes down, it’s very difficult to compete with Carlos.”
The former world No 2 was also asked how much he had in his tank after the final 16 clash.
“Oh, yeah, I mean, everything, to be honest. I think we were both physically done after that match. I thought I recovered quite well.
“Just looking at the facts, I think we finished at 1:30 at night. You know, we played 4 hours, 40 minutes. For that, I think I recovered quite okay. But yeah, today [it] wasn’t enough to be competitive,” said Zverev.