German Alexander Zverev (19th in the world) won the Hamburg tournament on Sunday by beating Serbian Laslo Djere 7-5, 6-3 in the final, his first title on the ATP circuit since the Masters in November 2021.
Zverev, 26 and ex-world No.2, confirms his return to the highest level, a year and two months after his terrible ankle ligament injury in the Roland Garros semi-final against Rafael Nadal. Less than a month from the US Open, where he has already played in a final in 2020, Alexander Zverev is full of confidence.
A situation difficult to imagine in June 2022, when his cries from Zverev had traumatized the Philippe Chatrier court. He had left the Central in a wheelchair, throwing a big blur on the rest of his career.
His return to the highest level was starting to look like a way of the cross. “The most difficult year of my life”, had conceded without hesitation the German. After a six-month hiatus, the first convincing results took time to arrive: a semi-final in Dubai in March and in Geneva in May.
Without real benchmarks when approaching Roland Garros, Zverev found his marks on the Parisian ocher, the very one who had deprived him of an exploit against Nadal a year earlier.
Porte d’Auteuil, he overcame the obstacles one by one to once again reach the semi-final, his third in a row at Roland Garros, only beaten by Casper Ruud.
“I love tennis, I don’t play for money or notoriety but just for this sport, I love competition,” he said during the Paris fortnight. “Being deprived of it was very hard but I’m so happy to be back, to play big games again.”
Falling back to 27th place in the world, Zverev resumed his march forward in the standings. Winner for the first time in Hamburg, his hometown, Alexander Zverev will rise to 16th place in the ATP rankings on Monday.
Faced with Laslo Djere, the German had to fight. The Serb, 57th player in the world, was solid, especially during the first set where he got four break points. However, he never knew how to convert them and it was Zverev who pocketed the first set, concluded with a sumptuous 7-5 lob.
More disjointed, the second round turned in favor of Zverev, more dominating in the game and realistic on the important points (2 break points converted out of 2).