Tennis professional Zverev in Halle: Defeat due to diabetes problems – Sport

When Alexander Zverev won his first Grand Slam title two weeks ago with his triumph at the French Open, he was also asked about his diabetes in the subsequent press conference. His performance contained a special note. At the age of four, Zverev was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This is an autoimmune disease in which insulin production stops.

It has been clear since then that he would be a patient throughout his life, but for a long time he kept a low profile about it. He only made his handicap public in August 2022, and shortly afterwards he founded his own foundation that supports children who have to bear the same fate. In Paris, Zverev, now 29 years old, explained that he still consciously doesn’t like to talk about his diabetes after playing on the pitch. “I try not to put too much emphasis on it,” he continued, “because I’ve always said I don’t want to have excuses.”

And yet for the first time there was a match after which Zverev was forced to take a detailed look at what his battle with the illness looks like behind the scenes. Because everyone who watched his 7:6 (4), 4:6, 5:7 defeat against the American Taylor Fritz in the semifinals of the grass tournament on Saturday in Halle/Westphalia noticed: There was something wrong with the world number three in tennis.

At a press conference, which was held standing up and can be seen on YouTube, Zverev explained that his back had “closed up”, but that was not the reason why he lost his seventh duel in a row against 28-year-old Fritz. “I had extreme problems with my blood sugar today because unfortunately the device – the sensor I use – showed an incorrect blood sugar value before the match, so I injected myself with far too much insulin,” Zverev said on his own and continued: “And then during the match, or in the first 45 minutes, I consumed almost 350 grams of sugar and felt horrible.”

“It’s the same as if you drank 3.5 liters of cola now”

When the score was 3:4, 40:40 in the first set, Zverev even had to take a break from treatment and went to the locker room in the middle of the match. “I drank one glucose gel after another, so that in the end I probably got to 300 or 350 grams of sugar. That will be difficult at some point,” reported Zverev, drawing a comparison to illustrate how he would have felt: “It’s the same as if you were drinking 3.5 liters of cola. You won’t feel good either. But I had to do it, otherwise I would have been hypoglycemic the whole time.”

Diabetes patients like Zverev can check their sugar level using a small sensor attached to a part of the skin, which can be read on a cell phone or a special reading device. So Zverev found out “shortly before the match” that he had a huge problem. “The device showed extremely high sugar, and then I realized, OK, I feel like my sugar is already low. And then I measured it, and then my sugar was actually already low. Then I said to myself, ‘Okay, this is going to be a difficult day then.'” And it was.

Zverev kept creeping around the pitch exhausted, kneeling down, supporting himself, looking tired and worn out. At first it seemed as if the heat was bothering him, but at around 35 degrees that wouldn’t have been surprising. At the French Open, world number one Jannik Sinner from Italy lost in the second round for this reason – completely exhausted – despite being in the lead. But Zverev, as he repeatedly emphasized in Paris, copes well with high temperatures. His defeat against world number nine Fritz – his 17th in his last 20 duels with top ten opponents – would have been solely due to his sugar level. That’s why he wasn’t physically there in the second and third sets. Nevertheless, he said fairly about Fritz: “He played better than me today. He was there more, fresher, moved better and then deserved to win.”

Zverev wasn’t particularly worried that a situation like this could happen again soon. Although he was puzzled about the cause. “This is the first time the sensor – I’ve had the sensor since 2016, 2017 – was so extremely wrong in nine years. I don’t know why, I have no idea.” His conclusion remained positive: “I really enjoyed being here,” said Zverev. “I think I showed relatively good grass court tennis here.” He hopes that he “can also show that at Wimbledon.” Before he travels to London for the famous classic at the All England Club in the middle of the week, Zverev is making a detour. This Monday he has a PR appointment with his diabetes foundation in Tyrol.