German ace Alexander Zverev is making strong strides in the bid for his first grass court title on the ATP tour. Currently playing in the Halle Open, where he has twice been a runner-up, the German is fighting all odds to secure a trophy. In his recent quarterfinal win over Flavio Cobolli, Zverev had problems which weren’t all about the tennis played.
Zverev battles illness in his semifinal bid
With the shocking exit of top seed Jannik Sinner, Zverev must be licking his lips to go all the way. However, mid-match in his quarterfinal the German had to rush off the court due to an unexpected illness. Zverev had broken the serve of his opponent before the score was 40-40 on his own service. That is when he started feeling a sense of discomfort and had to rush off the court.
In his post-match interview, the German clarified what had happened to him. “I felt fine before the match and then out of nowhere I felt really, really bad and felt ill. I went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt okay again. So, I don’t know what it was. I’ve never experienced that before. Hopefully I will be fine in the next couple of hours.” The German himself seemed a little taken aback by the illness as he mentioned he was feeling healthy before the match.
He had to throw up and it took him 15 minutes to get back to a normal state to further compete. He maintained his level after his return on the court. He took advantage of the early service break to seal the first set 6-4. He then went on to bag the second set 7-6. It will be interesting to see how much of a toll does the illness have on him going ahead.
To the relief of his fans, the German has said that he felt better once again. His team would hope that nothing relapses as he enters the semifinal stage. Unfortunately, he lost his next match against Daniil Medvedev.
Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
