Alexander Zverev has had ideal preparation leading up to this year’s French Open.
Zverev is one of the French Open favourites, having reached the final of the clay court major last year and been one set away from the title.
However, the German has not shown himself as one of the top contenders for this year’s tournament, highlighted by Zverev’s defeat to Alexandre Muller in Hamburg.
While Zverev has been unable to produce his best tennis as of late, his rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played in the Italian Open final.
Rennae Stubbs happy that Alexander Zverev is not the second seed at the French Open
Due to his recent drop-off in form and Alcaraz winning the Italian Open and Monte Carlo Masters, Zverev has dropped down to world number three.
This is something that former doubles world number one Rennae Stubbs has admitted she is pleased about when speaking on her podcast.
Stubbs also discussed an alleged social media post from Zverev that claimed he had dreamt about winning the French Open, but that appears to have come from a parody account not associated with him.
“I cannot believe he actually came and said that,” said Stubbs about the fake social media post. “Even if you dreamt that, kept that to yourself, bro.
“Thank God he is not the second seed, because remember I was very upset about that happening and he’s not. I don’t know what he is, but he’s not two and that’s all that matters.
“Because it means that Alcaraz and Sinner will not be in the same half, so if you are three or four seeds you get pulled out the hat to be in the top or the bottom and over the last, it feels like century of Grand Slams, Sinner and Alcaraz have been in the same half and, of course, they should be in opposite sides.”
What happened the only other time Alexander Zverev played Learner Tien?
Despite his recent disappointment, Zverev will now switch his attention to his first round match at the French Open against American teenager Learner Tien.
This is the second time that Zverev will have played Tien this year, with the three-time Grand Slam finalist hoping for a different outcome at the French Open.
When they played in Acapulco back in February, Tien beat Zverev in straight sets to get the highest-ranked win of his young career to date.
That match was played on hard courts, whereas Tien is yet to find his feet on the clay.
Tien has only won one of his last six matches on the surface and will now make his French Open debut against last year’s runner-up, Zverev.
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