Regeneration before the French Open?: Zverev confused with statement: Is tennis ace canceling for Hamburg?

But after his disappointing round of 16 exit in Rome on Tuesday, the world number three’s words sounded as if he would no longer compete before the Grand Slam spectacle and would skip Hamburg. Zverev said he now has almost two weeks until his next match.

Zverev was sick in Rome and complains about the place

He has not fully recovered from his illness at the start of the tournament in Rome. “I’m just a person who gets sick sometimes,” Zverev said after his start on Sky. “Played a lot of tennis, my immune system is probably down a bit.”

In his round of 16 against the Italian Luciano Darderi, the top German player missed four match points and lost 6:1, 6:7 (10:12) and 0:6. Zverev seemed relatively weak in the last sentence, but then he complained about something else. “I think this is the worst course I’ve ever played on,” he said. “I have a match point and the ball goes over my head. I have a break point and the ball just rolls away.”

Zverev wanted to make tournament planning “smart”.

If Zverev were to forego a start in Hamburg, it wouldn’t come as a surprise because he had announced that he wanted to take more breaks this season. After his semi-final exit in Munich in mid-April, the 29-year-old reported exhaustion and was considering no longer taking part in all the preparatory tournaments for the French Open.

“The main goal is to show the best tennis in Paris,” Zverev emphasized. “I have to be smart about my game plan.”

Since top Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the French Open due to a wrist injury, Zverev’s chances for Roland Garros have increased. He will be in second place in the field of participants and will only meet the outstanding Italian world number one Jannik Sinner in the final at the earliest.