ATP Cup: Alexander Zverev wins, Germany is subject to Great Britain

Jan-Lennard Struff had no chance in the first individual of the duel against the British at 1: 6, 2: 6 against Evans.

The team tournament is the prelude to the Australian tennis summer and for Zverev an important assessment of the situation before the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne.

Zverev (24) kept his nerve against Norrie, last year’s winner at the ATP Masters in Indian Wells, in the first round and fended off a set ball.

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Zverev convinces in the singles against Norrie

Afterwards he didn’t let himself be disturbed in the tie-break either.

On his own serve he showed no nakedness and converted his third match point after 1:27 hours.

“The first game of the season will never be the best of your life,” said Zverev afterwards, but was clearly satisfied with his performance. In the past two years he had only won one of his six singles at the ATP Cup.

Germany against USA and Canada under pressure to act

“I won against number twelve, which is a good start for the season,” said Zverev after the success against Norrie. “In the first set I could have played better, in the second it was my tennis again. Unfortunately we lost the doubles. So it doesn’t matter now.”

To move into the semi-finals, the German team must now win their games against the USA (January 4th) and Canada (January 6th) and hope for a slip by the British.

More important for Zverev at the start of the Australian tennis summer is game practice anyway. The Australian Open (January 17th to 30th) begins in Melbourne in two weeks.

There Zverev is hoping for the first Grand Slam title after the outstanding 2021 season with six tournament victories – including gold in Tokyo and the triumph at the ATP finals in Turin. His preparations after a short vacation are going according to plan, most of all he has come through the Omikron wave healthy and can work on the details in Australia.

Worries for Djokovic, Nadal and Medvedev

Other top players have a lot more worries. Melbourne record champion Novak Djokovic fears about his participation, the Serb has consistently refused to give a statement about his vaccination status, whether he has applied for a medical exemption or whether this will be approved is unclear.

Rafael Nadal at least got back into training after a corona infection.

How far Zverev is in terms of play was also shown on Sunday Defeat of the Russian Daniil Medvedev. The US Open Champion lost to Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7: 6 (7: 5), 5: 7, 6: 7 (2: 7) and has a lot of work to do before the start in Melbourne. Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini from Italy also started the new year in Sydney with a disappointment.

(SID)