Alexander Zverev may regret his latest decision as real worry emerges ahead of the French Open

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Alexander Zverev was among the players looking to fine-tune their games one final time ahead of the French Open.

Zverev opted to take on the Hamburg Open, his first event since falling to Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open.

The German had previously lost in the round of 16 at the Madrid Open, having just won the BMW Open in Munich.

Zverev clinched his first ATP title of the season at the tournament, and had his sights set on replicating that success in Hamburg this week.

He accepted a wildcard for the ATP 500 event, which both Jannik Sinner and Tommy Paul decided to withdraw from as the French Open nears.

Alexander Zverev suffers shock early defeat at the Hamburg Open

Zverev surprised John Isner by accepting the Hamburg wildcard, and it now looks to have been a poor decision from the German.

He did manage to beat Aleksandar Kovacevic in his opener, but was then sent crashing back down to earth in the round of 16.

READ MORE: Alexander Zverev suggests there’s a clay-court specialist on the ATP Tour who is going to rise up the rankings quickly

The top seed at the ongoing tournament, Zverev suffered a shock 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(5-7) defeat to Alexandre Muller.

It followed his 6-1, 7-6(7-5) triumph over Kovacevic, with Muller all the way down in 40th place in the ATP rankings.

Alexander Zverev makes poor decision right before the French Open

Zverev would have been eager to enjoy a lengthy run at the Hamburg Open for several reasons, and he would have been quietly confident of doing exactly that.

He was the biggest name at the tournament and was playing on home soil, while recent history was very much on his side.

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The 24-time ATP champion won the event in 2023 before reaching the final last year, with a shock early exit now suffered, with the huge two-hour, 40-minute playing time also not helping his cause.

Furthermore, Zverev would have needed a confidence boost ahead of the French Open, having just fallen one spot to number three in the world rankings.

He has been overtaken once more by Carlos Alcaraz, who beat world number one Sinner in the Italian Open final.

Zverev was clearly trying to find form for the clay-court Grand Slam, a tournament in which he lost the final to Alcaraz last time out.