‘Second Service’ Tennis News: Alexander Zverev ‘likely out for months’ after injury setback & Juan Carlos Ferrero claiming Alcaraz ‘only at 60%’ after US Open win
Looking back on the big tennis news in our exclusive ‘Second Service’… Alexander Zverev ‘likely out for months’ after injury setback, with Juan Carlos Ferrero claiming Alcaraz ‘only at 60%’ after US Open win plus more…
To start, Alexander Zverev will not participate in the Davis Cup Group Stage as planned after picking up a new injury in preparation for the competition in Hamburg.
“Unfortunately I will not be part of this team this week,” Zverev told reporters at a press conference in Hamburg. “I have a new issue, a bone edema that causes me quite a lot of pain. I don’t know if it happened yesterday or not but yesterday in practice with Oscar [Otte] it got to a point where I couldn’t run or walk anymore.”
“It’s not a question of days. It’s probably going to be a question of weeks, most likely even months,” he admitted. “It was obviously a massive goal for me to play here because it’s my home town, I know the stadium very well
In other news, Emma Raducanu has won her first match back since her loss in the first round at the US Open last month.
The 19-year-old defeated 22-year-old world number 89 Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 5-3 ret. as the young Ukrainian retired late on with a wrist injury in their Slovenia Open first round encounter.
Having fallen to 83rd in the WTA rankings, Raducanu is looking to climb back up the women’s ladder through the rest of the 2022 season and is enjoying her time in Portoroz.
“It has been really nice to be here,” she said after the win. “I came here early and it is a great place to have a tournament.”
Furthermore, Casper Ruud is proud to be the new world number two and believes he and Carlos Alcaraz deserve their standing as the two highest ranked players on the ATP tour.
After the battle, Ruud spoke of how Alcaraz is seizing the moment to become the youngest men’s number one in history.
“He’s riding that wave. At the moment he’s the best player in the world in my eyes,” the Norwegian said in his press conference. “He deserves that spot. I’m happy that we played each other in the final and that we played for the title and the world number one spot. I think it’s deserving that after great results, both of us having good results throughout the year, we are one and two in the rankings.”
Read what else Ruud had to say about him here.
More on the Spaniard as Carlos Alcaraz still has a long way to go to maximise his powers, according to coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Despite that monumental achievement of his first Major triumph at the US Open, former world number Ferrero believes his charge is far from the finished package and may even rival the greatness of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
“I think he’s on 60% of his game,” Ferrero told reporters after the final in New York. “He can improve a lot of things. He knows and I know that we have to keep working. Once to get to number one, it’s not done and you go. You have to keep working, keep playing at a huge level on those tournaments to keep winning.
Read all about Ferrero’s comments here.
In other news, Frances Tiafoe stated he was thrilled to be named alongside Arthur Ashe.
The American discussed how hard his parents had worked over the years in an interview with Good Morning America. He added that he would always remember what it was like to be acknowledged beside Arthur Ashe.
“It’s truly a blessing from where I came from. All the work that my parents have done over the years and having see that and be part of that is crazy,” said Tiafoe adding: “To be in the same sentence as Arthur Ashe in anything is unbelievable and that’s something no one can ever take from me so I’m gonna remember that forever.”
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