Alexander Zverev Tennis player who has won the ATP Finals twice spoiled Carlos Alcaraz’s debut in the final tournament of 2023 in Turin.
The seventh seed refused to give up despite losing the first set and won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 over second seed Alcaraz in the first match of the ATP Finals Red Group.
This season, the German tennis player is appearing for the sixth time in the season-ending tournament after winning the title in the 2018 season in London and the 2021 season in Turin. He used his experience to deadly effect on 2023 Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, remaining calm on serve and from the baseline to record 1-0 in the Red Group.
READ ALSO : Holger Rune Motivated by Rivalry Against Novak Djokovic
“My serve helps me a lot. “Securing a break point opportunity in the first game of the second set really helped me,” said Zverev.
“You don’t want to be down a set and left with a break against the world number 2, so I’m happy.”
After wasting a break opportunity in the first set, the world number 7 remained positive and with his consistency in the second and third sets, he caused the Spaniard to be less accurate in shooting his shots.
The 27-year-old won 78 percent of the points on his first serve and recovered after a heavy fall that hit his left ankle in the third set to record 4-3 in their head to head after 2 hours 32 minutes of play.
The Tokyo Olympic champion was forced to miss last season’s edition because he suffered a serious ankle injury during his French Open semifinal against Rafael Nadal. He limped slightly towards the end of his game against Alcaraz this week after falling on his left ankle, but that didn’t stop him from going 13-8 in the season-ending tournament.
“I didn’t hurt my ankle. I slipped. “It hurt for a while and I don’t think there was any serious damage,” Alexander Zverev commented on his ankle.
Meanwhile, this week, Alcaraz is aiming for his seventh title this season and his first title since he won the Wimbledon title. The tennis player, who also missed the ATP Finals last season due to injury, is the youngest competitor in this season-ending tournament and will try to become the youngest champion in the tournament since Pete Sampras in 1991. Thanks to the group format, he still has a chance in Turin this season.
