Alexander Zverev commented on the vastly different conditions at certain tournaments this year, including the US Open, that’s caused him major concern.
After a major revelation about Alexander Zverev’s health last week, the world number two is still set to plat at the Shanghai Masters event starting today.
Seeded second, the tournament is full to the brim with nine of the top ten set to compete, including Novak Djokovic who plays his first match since the US Open this week.
Reigning champion and world number eight Hubert Hurkacz has been forced to pull out of the event after an injury-ravaged year.
With Zverev not having played since his exploits at the Laver Cup, the German has raised concerns about the conditions in Shanghai ahead of his opener.
Alexander Zverev suggests the conditions have completely changed in Shanghai
Zverev suffered an underwhelming US Open, with the German falling to Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals.
Now in Shanghai for the penultimate Masters 1000 event of the year, Zverev gave an assessment on the differing conditions he’s expecting.
“It’s actually changed a lot,” Zverev said in his Shanghai press conference. “When I played the finals here, what was it, five years ago, something like that? It seems like yesterday, but it was five years ago already. It was probably one of the fastest tournaments that we had.
The courts were extremely fast. The balls were extremely fast. I feel like that has changed. The court has slowed down a little bit, but the biggest change are the balls,” Zverev continued.
“We’re playing with these Wilson balls, which are a bit of a strange tennis ball in a way, because they feel a bit dead, to be honest. They feel like there’s not much going on there. They don’t get big, but they just feel like there’s no air inside of them.”
Having missed out on a golden opportunity for his second Grand slam final appearance of the year, Zverev has since explained he faced issues with the balls New York too.
“I struggle with those tennis balls a little bit. I struggled with them at the US Open, I struggle with them here, but we’ll see, I’ll have to adjust and have to find a way.”
Jessica Pegula also admitted she didn’t like the US Open tennis balls, but jokingly clarified that she wasn’t an enormous fan of any balls on tour.
Alexander Zverev’s fitness and health might be the real struggle
The German being able to participate is an achievement in itself after Zverev’s pneumonia diagnosis in September.
This forced him to withdraw from the China Open and though there has been some improvement, he is still not back to full fitness and it will take some time before that is the case.
In his latest fitness update, Zverev revealed he’d been hospitalized after having suffered a high fever at the Laver Cup.
With players having suffered a relentless schedule this year, Zverev’s key struggle likely won’t be his opponents, rather it’ll be his own health.
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