2024-09-22 08:46:35
The Laver Cup in Berlin could have been a home festival for Alexander Zverev. In the end, however, it was probably just a big disappointment.
Alexander Zverev only became a local hero and a crowd tamer once in Berlin’s Uber Arena. When the German won a spectacular point to make it 15:30 in his Laver Cup singles match against Taylor Fritz with the score at 5:5 in the second set on the opponent’s serve, the German audience was finally brought to their feet and Zverev was able to practice a grand gesture.
Waving both arms, Zverev asked the crowd to get even louder – and they obeyed willingly. No wonder, because the crowd didn’t really get much to cheer from the number two in the world rankings all weekend. A promising tournament turned into a disappointment, both in sporting and personal terms.
Even before Zverev had hit the first ball, the German caused the audience to frown. Zverev largely ignored the sofas that are set up at the edge of the court for each team at the Laver Cup so that teammates can cheer each other on. In front of his home crowd, of all people, the 27-year-old preferred to spend most of his time behind the scenes. Of his European team, Zverev was by far the one who spent the least time on the sidelines. The children in the audience who were busy collecting autographs behind the bench had to make do with other signatures.
Zverev himself explained his absence on Saturday by saying he was ill. “I haven’t felt well this week,” he said when asked by t-online. “I’ve had a fever for four days, and I’ve had a fever at night,” said Zverev about his state of health. He therefore tried to save as much energy as possible for his games. “The team knew that too and was OK with it. I want to be as good as possible for Team Europe and I can only do that if I have energy,” said Zverev.
Zverev’s strategy was clear: less presence between matches, but give the crowd more to cheer about during his games. But the energy-saving mode failed. In the doubles match on Friday, Zverev had to admit defeat in straight sets in the high-class pairing with world number three Carlos Alcaraz against Team World consisting of Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton.
While Alcaraz made up for the defeat on Saturday with a two-set win in the singles against Shelton and made the numerous Spanish fans in the arena cheer, Zverev also failed to make amends in his singles against Fritz. The score was 4:6 and 5:7 at the end of a match in which the German defended himself bravely but came up short against a great Fritz.
“He played brilliantly,” Zverev said, paying tribute to his opponent after the match. “I’ve never seen him play like that. I think that was the best match I’ve ever seen him play,” Zverev continued. He got the most out of it, but Fritz was simply better.
After being knocked out in the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals at the US Open, the defeat at the Laver Cup is Zverev’s third bitter defeat in a row against the American. Zverev seems to have found a new bogeyman in Fritz.
When asked what the reason for the losing streak might be, Zverev was defiant: “In Wimbledon, I had a broken bone that caused me problems,” he recalled the injury he sustained in the third round on the hallowed grass in London, which had affected him in his match against Fritz.
“I played terribly at the US Open and here it was a great match and he played exceptionally,” was Zverev’s simple analysis. Especially in defense, which was always Fritz’s weakness, it felt like he was playing against Novak Djokovic in his best times, Zverev praised his opponent’s performance.