Alexander Zverev praises Alexandre Muller for what he did to beat him in Hamburg which was really ‘clever’

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Alexander Zverev has continued his relatively poor clay court season ahead of Roland Garros.

Zverev accepted a wildcard for the Hamburg Open, where he is a former champion and finished last year’s tournament as runner-up.

With just one week to go until the clay court major, Zverev surprised people with this decision, as he still seeks an elusive Grand Slam title.

This has left concerns for Zverev ahead of Roland Garros, but he does not appear too worried following his latest defeat.

Alexander Zverev praises Alexandre Muller for doing something ‘clever’ at the Hamburg Open

Zverev won his opening match at the Hamburg Open against Aleksandar Kovacevic, but was beaten in his subsequent match by Alexandre Muller.

The Frenchman had never previously beaten Zverev, but was able to get the better of the world number three after winning, 6-3 4-6 7-6(5).

After losing in the second round of his home tournament Zverev revealed that he had been struggling with illness, and claimed that he had been sick 37 times during the previous night.

However, Zverev suggested that his opponent Muller was ‘clever’ to change his strategy when noticing that he was struggling during the match.

“I think I played a solid and good match,” Zverev told press. “But he realised at some point that I wasn’t feeling well and then went on playing the points for as long as possible. That was clever on his part.”

Will Alexander Zverev try to change anything at Roland Garros?

Zverev won the BMW Open to make a strong start to his clay court season, but has struggled for form outside of the Munich tournament.

However, at tournaments in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Hamburg, Zverev has only won six of his 10 matches.

This has left question marks for Zverev ahead of the French Open, but he does not appear too concerned and does not plan to change anything.

“I think my tennis has generally been going in the right direction in recent weeks,” claimed Zverev. “I showed good tennis in Rome—and here too. I’m just trying to prepare as good as possible. There are no very specific things at the moment, it’s more about the big picture.”

He later added, “I’ll get healthy first and then see. But nothing will change for me for Paris. I still want to show good tennis there and win a lot of matches.”

Zverev will be the third seed at the French Open this year, and will be hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish in 2024.