Alexander Zverev played a lot of post-midnight tennis at the United Cup recently, but it was worth it because his country won the competition.
Last year's season didn't start too well for Zverev, who was only coming back from his long injury absence so struggles were expected. After playing pretty well at the ATP Finals last year and beating Carlos Alcaraz 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 and Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4, many expected Zverev to start the year on a high note, and he did.
He teamed up with Angelique Kerber for the 2024 edition of the United Cup and proved to be the team's MVP. A few impressive singles wins, including one against Hubert Hurkacz in the final that had him save match points, were only part of the story.
The real story was him playing late-night doubles matches in back-to-back days to put Germany in the final first and then win the event. He hates playing late at night, but he fought for his country and delivered. It was difficult, though; he didn't mince his words after the event, admitting to being completely drained.
I feel like this format, especially the last three days where I had to play six matches in three days' time, it's probably even more difficult than a Slam, to be honest. Because in a slam, yes, you might be playing five sets but you always have a day in between and you always kind of get the recovery.
It makes total sense; the schedule was very brutal on Zverev, and if that wasn't enough, the matches were emotional and close. It was pretty tough, but they ended up with the trophy, so it made it all worth it. That's why winning matters so much.
Here you don't have time. Yesterday I went to bed at 5:30 a.m. or 5:45 a.m. I have to still get up out of bed and not feeling great, still play two matches. Physically it is a very difficult event, for sure. To be honest, this trophy makes it all worth it. I think winning it with this team makes it all worth it. We're happy about that.
We'll see if he can bring this level to Melbourne. He's been picked as a dark horse candidate to win it all, so let's see what happens at the 2024 Australian Open from January 14th, 2024.
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