"First time in my life where I thought I'm going to win French Open": Alexander Zverev recalls tough period after ankle injury & finding back his mojo
Alexander Zverev came into the 2022 French Open as one of the favorites for the title, having reached the final of the Madrid Open and the semifinals of the Italian Open in the lead-up to it.
The German went as far as the semifinals in Paris, locking horns with Rafael Nadal in the penultimate clash. After losing the first set in a very close tiebreaker, Zverev pushed Nadal into a tiebreaker in the second set as well, which is when disaster stuck.
The former World No. 2 rolled his ankle while going for a forehand, crying out in agony as he hit the ground painfully. He had to be taken off in a wheelchair and eventually retired from the match to send Nadal into the final.
Alexander Zverev recalled all those moments during his press conference at the Dubai Tennis Championships. He notably beat Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday in Dubai to reach his first ATP semifinal since that day in Paris.
The 25-year-old admitted that he himself believed in his chances at the tournament. He thought, for the first time in his life, that he could go all the way and claim his maiden Grand Slam title.
"I think 2021, the last six months of the season, was one of the best tennis that I ever played. I lost three or four matches I think in six months. Yeah, that was a special time for me in a way," Zverev reflected.
"But last year during the French Open was the first time in my life where I went into matches, I went into the [Carlos] Alcaraz match, the Nadal match as well, and I thought I can win the French Open and I'm going to win the French Open."
Dealing with the injury after that was a painful affair for the World No. 16, who referred to it as a "tough period" to get through. However, now that he has put it behind him after a decent run in Dubai, Zverev is proud of himself and hopes his new run of form will stick.
"Obviously I didn't. Not only did I not win, I basically broke everything that I can in my ankle," Alexander Zverev said.
"So it was, yeah, a tough period. But after an injury like that, I'm happy where I'm standing right now. I'm getting back. I'm playing some decent tennis this week. Hopefully this will continue."
"There is no way to kind of make the time go faster, I just had to accept it" - Alexander Zverev on how he dealt with his ankle injury
Alexander Zverev also revealed how he managed to deal with such a devastating injury. He stated that he hung out with friends and kept himself busy by doing everything normal people got to do in their lives.
As a tennis professional, such luxuries were rare to come by for the German, who found a silver lining during that enforced break to find time for himself.
"I mean, it's an instinct, right? It's how you feel inside. That's how I felt inside, to be honest," Zverev said.
"I have to say I also had great people around me at that time. I was at home. I was with friends for a long period of time. I was doing other things that maybe a normal person would do for six months. I never had that."
The 25-year-old went on to add that he just had to accept the nature of the injury. He also constantly reminded himself that there was no way to rush the recovery process and that he simply had to keep on working on his fitness.
"In that way I was trying to still keep myself busy. I was still going to the gym two times a day. I was still working out, still trying to improve the things that I can, even with a cast on kind of, so... I mean, there is no way to rush it," Alexander Zverev said.
"There is no way to kind of make the time go faster. I just had to accept it."