As: July 2, 2024 9:44 pm
Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev tackled his first round task at Wimbledon with confidence. The Hamburg native is aiming for his first Grand Slam title at the grass classic. However, Angelique Kerber from Kiel failed again in the first round.
A good three weeks after losing the French Open final, Alexander Zverev started the third Grand Slam tournament of the season with an easy 6:2, 6:4, 6:2 against Roberto Carballes Baena from Spain. In the second round, the German number one will face Marcos Giron from the USA.
“The problems I’ve had here over the years. But I feel different now,” said the 27-year-old. “I’m happy with how I started the competition.”
“For some reason I always said I didn’t like grass courts. Now I’ve decided I love them.”
Alexander Zverev
After 1:53 hours, the world number four converted the first match point. Although the matches on the outdoor courts had to be interrupted several times on the rainy day in London, Zverev played his match on the second largest court indoors.
“I think I can win the title”
The German has big ambitions for the tennis classic this year, which is clearly the weakest Grand Slam tournament to date. The 27-year-old reached the round of 16 twice and was at least in the semi-finals of each of the other three majors.
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“This is the most open Wimbledon tournament we’ve had in 20 years,” he said ahead of the first match: “This is the first time I really feel like I’m a contender here, maybe I can win a title. .”
Third Grand Slam first round win for Kerber
Angelique Kerber is miles away from that. The 2018 Wimbledon winner had to beat the Kazakh world number 35 in the first round. Yulia Putintseva admitted that she lost 5:7, 3:6 and focused on the next serious disappointment. The Kiel native played brilliantly at times in 12th place at the All England Club, but he also made a lot of small mistakes.
SOUND: Kerber’s last appearance at Wimbledon? (1 min)
“I could have played better – for sure,” Kerber said. She said self-critically: “I didn’t get into my rhythm at all. If you make so many easy mistakes in the crucial moments, obviously that doesn’t help.” Wimbledon will remain “my Wimbledon,” said the former world number one. She always has the beautiful moments in her head and it will stay that way.
“Obviously I’m disappointed. It wasn’t the result I wanted. It wasn’t my day.”
Angelique Kerber
For the 36-year-old, it was her third round win at her third Grand Slam this year. She had not won a match in Berlin or Bad Homburg recently either. Their hopes of regaining momentum at the site of their previous success were not fulfilled.
The next big goal is the Olympic Games in Paris. Asked if this would be his last appearance at Wimbledon, the left-hander said: “I can’t answer that. I don’t know. I didn’t come here with that thought.”
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