Alexander Zverev reveals off-court problems may lie behind Wimbledon exit
Alexander Zverev has suggested that off-court problems may lie behind his current struggles following his first-round Wimbledon exit.
The world number five lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to Czech wildcard Jiri Vesely, before candidly revealing all is not well away from tennis.
“Physically I’m fine,” Zverev told reporters after his defeat. “I can play 10 sets, no problem. I don’t really get tired. Yeah, mental, I mean, I get down on myself a lot.
“But, yeah, I don’t think it’s neither of those because mentally I showed I’m quite strong in the last few years.
“It’s different things I think right now. Life is also one thing. Everything that happens outside the court affects you. In the last two days, I would say are very rough for me personally.
“I’m not going to get into details, but I’m just saying. I have to fix that to play well on the court.”
Zverev has developed something of an unwanted reputation for himself for under-performing at Grand Slam sin his young career so far.
He has never been further than the quarter-finals at a major, and that appears to be playing on his mind too.
“It was kind of a typical Grand Slam match for me,” he added. “I started off well, then one or two things don’t go my way, and everything kind of a little bit falls apart.
“Yeah, I’m not very high on confidence right now. When I get to the important moments, I had, what, five, six breakpoints in the fourth set alone, [and I] can’t take any of those.
“So, yeah. I didn’t lose this match on tennis. It’s just, yeah, my confidence is below zero right now.”
Zverev has been locked in a legal dispute with former manager Patricio Apey since March, but it is unclear whether that is the issue to which is is referring.
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