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Tennis in the New York bubble: Zverev before duel with Murray

2020-08-21T13:04:14.477Z


Two weeks after the women, the men’s tennis start again. And almost all the stars of the industry have come to New York to finally be back on the pitch. For the German number one, the Masters event gets straight to the point.


Two weeks after the women, the men’s tennis start again. And almost all the stars of the industry have come to New York to finally be back on the pitch. For the German number one, the Masters event gets straight to the point.

New York (AP) - In the first real tennis game in half a year, Alexander Zverev is likely to face an endurance test. After a bye in the first round, the German number one could meet former world number one Andy Murray at the Cincinnati Masters event, which has been relocated to New York.

Provided the Briton wins against Frances Tiafoe from the USA in the first round. There will be no slow play-in after the long break. Zverev will be challenged straight away and give a hint of how well the 23-year-old survived the long break owed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Zverev last played on the ATP tour in Acapulco, Mexico, at the end of February, after his clear second round out there, Corona had paralyzed the entire tennis business. First, the number seven in the world kept fit in Florida, then returned to Europe and made negative headlines on the Adria Tour organized by Novak Djokovic.

Zverev did not speak about the incidents in Serbia and Croatia, in which Djokovic became infected with the corona virus, among others. When he was approached at the show tournament near Nice earlier this month, he broke off the press round.

Now Zverev, who recently trained by the Spanish ex-professional David Ferrer, is in New York. For a few days he has been staying at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which will also host the US Open on August 31. Normally there is a lot of hustle and bustle on the large facility, which has been modernized with a lot of money in recent years. Americans know how to turn sports events into big show events.

But this year everything is different. Because of Corona, spectators and journalists are not allowed on the facility at the Masters 1000 tournament in the coming days or at the US Open. The professionals mostly live in an airport hotel, only the stars of the industry have rented houses in which they are also checked around the clock. Only those who have tested negative for the virus are allowed on the system. Green bracelets serve as a sign of this.

"I am very grateful because I saw the hotel that houses the majority of the players," said Djokovic in an interview with the New York Times on behalf of those who live in a house with a garden. The rest of the world can only see the daylight on the US Open facility.

Like Djokovic, Zverev initially hesitated whether to travel to New York. But in the end, apart from US Open defending champion Rafael Nadal and the injured Roger Federer, most of the men's stars came. "It is important for our sport that it starts again," said Djokovic, whose image, like Zverev's, suffered from the Adria Tour.

With good tennis and sporting success, they now want to straighten that out in New York. Apart from Zverev, only the Sauerland Jan-Lennard Struff of the German professionals was directly qualified for the Masters event starting this Saturday. He meets Alex de Minaur from Australia. On the other hand, Angelique Kerber and Julia Görges are missing for the women. While Görges has already canceled the US Open, there is still a question mark behind Kerber's participation.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200821-99-249725 / 4

World ranking women

US Tennis Association

Tournament homepage

Tournament tableau women

Tournament tableau men

World ranking list men

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2020-08-21

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