“I had my struggles” – Zverev reveals injury issues during lacklustre semi-final loss to Casper Ruud

Alexander Zverev struggled to make an impact in a surprisingly one-sided defeat to Casper Ruud

Zverev out of Roland-Garros 2023 Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic

June 9, 2023

It perhaps should have been evident that all was not well with Alexander Zverev during his one-sided loss to Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of Roland-Garros.

It was a less than inspired performance from the German, who put up a surprisingly error-strewn and lacklustre performance.

Having found some very promising form over the course of the past fortnight, it initially appeared that Zverev had simply run out of gas by the time he’d reached the last four.

Injury hampering Zverev in loss to Ruud at Roland-Garros

However, in his post-match press conference, the current world No. 27 revealed that there were some more underlying physical issues that prevented the German from performing at his best.

“I don’t want to take anything away from him, to be honest, but yeah, I had my struggles,” Zverev said when asked whether he was 100% fit during the match.

“It’s a tough one, because I think he played extremely well. I had one physical issue, which kind of against him you have to run a lot, you have to fight. Like the previous match, actually. Very, very similar.

“Yeah, I wasn’t really able to do that. I wasn’t really able to push off my serve much, as well. You know, just everything went his way a little bit.

“At the end of the day, that’s how it goes. If I break him maybe in the second set, then the match maybe can turn around. I don’t use those kind of chances, and then at some point it’s gonna get tough.”

Thigh strain causing Zverev’s struggles

When asked in German what specifically the issue had been, Zverev revealed that he was suffering from a small strain in his thigh, which he had pulled at the end of a practice session yesterday. Zverev added that, as a result of the thigh strain, he has had to pull out of playing at the upcoming grass-court event in Stuttgart.

This latest setback comes exactly one year on from the severe ankle injury Zverev sustained during his semi-final loss to Rafael Nadal at last year’s Roland-Garros.

Thankfully for Zverev and his team, this issue sounds much less serious than the ligament damage sustained last June.

Zverev still holds firm belief that he will play at Wimbledon in just under one month’s time.

While recovering from this latest niggle, the German can reflect on what has, overall, been the most positive tournament for him since he returned from injury at the end of last year.

“I’m happy that I’m back to where I am so soon after the injury. Normally it takes longer. I was in the semi-final of a Grand Slam. That’s very positive. I missed out on a chance, yes, but that’s life. We move on.”