Alexander Zverev is preparing to face Sebastian Korda for a spot in the semi-finals of the Montreal Open.
Alexander Zverev has managed to find some of the best form of his career this year having reached the final of the French Open in June, narrowly missing out on his first major title.
On his way to the final however, he encountered Denmark’s Holger Rune in a marathon five-set match played as dusk enveloped Roland Garros.
At the Montreal Open this week Zverev met Rune once again, but this time for the job done in far more straightforward fashion.
However, while there have been obvious condition changes from the grass of Wimbledon and clay of Roland Garros, players this week have been dealing with swirling winds that have forced many players to have to adjust.
Zverev admitted how difficult the conditions have been and highlighted the one aspect that has been the most challenging this week.
Alexander Zverev reveals what he’s really struggled with at the Montreal Open
Seeded second this week, Zverev is coming off the back of a decent but not remarkable last few weeks, with the German unable to defend his Olympic title in Paris.
Now appearing for the first time on the hard courts as players begin building up to the US Open, Zverev is yet to drop a set, despite facing Rune and Jordan Thompson, who are both in the top 30.
Zverev however was quick to comment on the blustery conditions in his post-match press conference saying, “For me the toughest part is just the baseline game, you cannot hit the aggressive shots that maybe you want to hit, because you can’t take as much risk as you want to.
“You have to be more patient and it’s something I’ve had to learn over the years,” Zverev continued, “I was not a great player when it was windy historically, so yes, it’s definitely something I had to learn and I’m getting better at it and I’m happy about that.”
Which tennis players deal with windy conditions the best?
It is a condition every tennis player dreads, as their feet get in a jumble, their ball toss goes awry, and quickly the fun of the sport has vanished.
While many players struggle enormously in windy conditions, certain current players like Iga Swiatek have a remarkable way of adjusting to the wind.
Her WTA Finals win in Cancun last year was plagued by tremendously challenging conditions, which all but her were bamboozled by.
With windy conditions often seen at the French Open too, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi are two other names that immediately spring to mind as players who easily dealt with changing conditions.
The blustery wind is not set to die down soon in Montreal, and with Zverev preparing to play Washington winner Sebastian Korda, he is going to have to bring an extremely measured but still aggressive game if he wants to progress to the last four.
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