Alexander Zverev: ‘This is what really stuck into my mind’

Boris Becker said Alexander Zverev’s struggles in his Australian Open second-round loss to Michael Mmoh should come as no surprise, considering he has just returned from a six-month injury layoff. Zverev, the former world number 2, was surprised by Mmoh, world number 107, who beat the German 6-7 (1) 6-4 6-3 6-2 and qualified for the third round of the Australian Open. “Well, I wasn’t entirely surprised that Zverev struggled in his second round against lucky loser Mmoh. Let’s not forget that he didn’t really play an official tournament for seven months after his broken right ankle against Nadal at the French Open. The first round was very difficult. He won in five sets, being two sets one down and so physically it’s impossible for him to be in any, you know, shape at all. You also have to remember that the best of five in a Grand Slam is much more difficult. So I thought he was going to fight physically and that’s what he did. I think he tried hard. I think he really gave everything he had left in the tank, but I don’t think the spike is really full,” Becker told Eurosport. Although Zverev wasn’t playing his best tennis, that doesn’t change the fact that Mmoh just garnered the biggest win of his career. Becker, a former world number 1, also took a moment to congratulate Mmoh after his great win over Zverev. “On the other hand, congratulations to Mmoh. He has seized his chance, you know, he lost in the qualifiers. He’s a lucky loser, they called him late, he had a match point against him in the first round. He already booked his flight from I returned home to the United States yesterday. Crazy. 48 hours in the life of Michael Mmoh,” Becker said. In Australia, Zverev played a total of four matches. In those four matches, Zverev went 1-3. It remains to be seen how Zverev will be in the post-Australian Open tournaments.

Zverev was suffering from Type-1 diabetes

Alexander Zverev opened up about playing tennis with Type-1 diabetes in a heartwarming interview. “You can have a normal life. You can become anything you want with this kind of illness. I want to play tennis and thats the only thing I really care about. This is what really stuck into my mind and it made me quite upset as well to be honest because I dont think you should set any limits for kids as it’s just not fair to them.”