John Isner admits he’s ‘surprised’ by what Alexander Zverev has decided to do before the French Open starts

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Alexander Zverev has not had the best preparation ahead of this year’s French Open.

Zverev lost to Lorenzo Musetti at the recent Italian Open, as he saw his title defence come to an end in the quarter-finals.

Despite being the world number three, Zverev may have concerns ahead of Roland Garros after a relatively poor clay court season.

With that in mind, Zverev went back on previous comments and has decided to enter a tournament in the week before a Grand Slam.

John Isner ‘surprised’ by what Alexander Zverev has done before the French Open

Zverev received a late wildcard for the Hamburg Open, where he is a former champion and reached the final last year.

This is something that John Isner has admitted he was surprised by, questioning how sensible an idea it is for Zverev to play in Hamburg the week before Roland Garros.

“You have got to imagine that his appearance fee is pretty nice,” Isner said on the Nothing Major Podcast. “Before the tournament [Jannik] Sinner, Tommy Paul, [Lorenzo] Musetti and [Holger] Rune all pulled out so there were some funds available, you would imagine, to attract a top player. You might as well attract the hometown number one player from Germany.

“But I am a little surprised to see him playing this week. He does like to hit and play a lot. When I was training in Tampa Florida, Sascha [Zverev] was 13, 14, 15 years old practising with us and you knew he was going to be an incredible player. But he was on the court for five or six hours a day. He is a court rat.

‘It seems to me that’s how he gets his confidence, from striking balls on the practice court and getting a lot of matches. He is certainly not feeling too good about his game right now.

“He is playing Hamburg. It’s an interesting decision to me. He has played a lot of matches. It’s not necessarily the physical toll for me, it’s the mental toll. He hasn’t had that much time off mentally before the French Open, where he made the finals last year. So we will see how that goes.”

Despite Isner’s concerns about Zverev playing a tournament so close to a major tournament, the German reached the Roland Garros final last year after finishing as runner-up in Hamburg.

Alexander Zverev’s Potential Route to the Hamburg Open title

Zverev made a successful start to his Hamburg Open campaign, beating American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic in straight sets.

Next up for the 28-year-old is Alexander Muller, who Zverev has never previously lost to including en route to his BMW Open title victory last month.

If Zverev is able to overcome the threat of Muller he could face the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Frances Tiafoe.

Another potential final opponent for the three-time major finalist is Francisco Cerundolo, who has beaten Zverev three times including at the Madrid Open.

Zverev will continue to look to gain confidence in Hamburg ahead of Roland Garros, which begins on Sunday May 25.