Alexander Zverev could miss much of the 2023 season with fresh injury setback

There are increasing concerns about the return to fitness of Alexander Zverev, with fears that he could miss much of the 2023 tennis season.

Last week, Zverev revealed he has suffered a fresh injury setback with a bone edema issue.

And tennis news Twitter account Relevant Tennis believe that this type of injury, if untreated can take up to a YEAR to fully recover.

In a Tweet with a picture of Zverev, they said: “According to NLM (National Library of Medicine), if untreated, bone edema [Zverev's current issue] resolves within 3-9 months. Anyways, there are treatment strategies (conservative or surgical) that aim to reduce pain and healing time.

“Other sources talk about 4-12 months of time to recover.”

Relevant Tennis followed that up by mentioning the player himself has recently said he would be out for 'for weeks or months' although nothing official had come from the Zverev camp as yet.

The German World No.5 hasn’t been seen on court since June when he picked up a serious ankle injury during his colossal battle with Rafael Nadal in the French open semi-finals.

Zverev has been out of action since the Roland Garros semi-finals

A week later the 25-year-old told his followers on Instagram and Facebook he was recovering from surgery after doctors in Germany confirmed all three lateral ligaments in his right ankle had been torn.

In the same message he reflected on reaching World No. 2 for the first time, a career high.

The setback meant Zverev missed the entire grass court season but in July, Zverev – somewhat optimistically - told German media outlet RTL News he hoped to be ready for the US Open and subsequent Davis Cup matches.

He said at the time: “"I still haven't given up on the US Open, and, of course, I want to be part of the Davis Cup for myself. That's a goal."

The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year did indeed come to soon for the man from Hamburg, but he was still hopeful of playing some part in Germany’s recent David Cup matches.

But, after being forced to withdraw from that after experiencing pain whilst practicing, Zverev added: “I have a bone edema issue which causes me quite a lot of pain. I don’t know if it happened yesterday or not but yesterday in practice with Oscar [Otte] it got to the point where I couldn’t run or walk anymore."

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