Alexander Zverev lost to Taylor Fritz in a very competitive five-setter at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, in which the German player struggled physically for much of the match.
Zverev admitted after his previous match that he was unsure about his physical condition, as he injured his knee in his third-round match. The German tried to challenge Fritz, who took advantage of that to beat him in five sets, which was still a remarkable effort by Zverev.
He was up 2-0 in sets but ultimately failed to win the match because he felt worse and worse as the match went on. He didn't even try to hide it after the match, admitting to his physical struggles, which were pretty obvious.
"Me and Taylor, we grew up together, playing each other since juniors. I think it was fairly obvious that I wasn't 100 per cent today, right? I wasn't moving really the entire match. I wasn't running for dropshots."
"If I was running for a dropshot, I was limping there more than running. Towards the end, I thought from the fourth and fifth set, I was really struggling to serve, as well, to jump off on my leg, to create some power."
Zverev was fine with the result because he did everything he could, given the circumstances. He almost won the match despite not being close to 100%, and that's certainly commendable.
What bothered him, however, were the celebrations that came from Fritz's box, which he felt were a bit over the top. Not all, though. Zverev praised his team as very respectful people, but someone in the box, who he refused to specify, irritated Zverev.
" His team is extremely respectful. I think his coach, his physio, also his second coach, they're extremely respectful. I think there's some other people that maybe are in the box that are not maybe from the tennis world, that are not maybe from particularly watching every single match."
"They were a bit over the top. That's okay. No issues. No drama. He fought back from two sets to love, so they're obviously all excited, very pumped up, yeah. But no issues with Taylor. I think Taylor is a great guy. I have absolutely no issues with him."
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