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Alexander Zverev Australian Open

Alexander Zverev on shock Rotterdam loss: ‘I can’t win a set here, not even in practice’


Alexander Zverev said he can’t win a set in Rotterdam, even in practice, after his shock defeat to Alexander Bublik.

Zverev, the number three seed, was well fancied after a string of good performances in Australia, where his serving was looking particularly formidable.

However, he sank to a 7-5, 6-3 loss to world number 43 Bublik in just 77 minutes in his first match in the tournament.

He was able to hit just 13 winners – only one of those being an ace – and he said the defeat came as no surprise to him.

ā€œI havenā€™t won a single practice set in the five days Iā€™ve been here, and Iā€™ve been practising twice a day,ā€ Zverev said after the match.

ā€œIn the past I havenā€™t done well here, in the past I havenā€™t done well and to be honest if the conditions donā€™t change a little bit, I donā€™t think in the future Iā€™ll do too well here either.

ā€œIā€™m not as upset about the match as I usually would be in another tournament because I just donā€™t feel well here.ā€

This year was the fifth time Alexander Zverev has played Rotterdam, and he has won just three matches there during his career.


Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.