Alexander Zverev had a shockingly bad outing at the 2023 Japan Open losing to Jordan Thompson and he reacted to it after his match.
This was a pretty important tournament for Zverev as he needs a few more points to secure his appearance at the ATP Finals in Turin in a few weeks. He currently occupies number 7 in the Race, but a few players are in striking distance, making his participation in Turin relatively uncertain.
He's still favoured to be there, but this loss won't help him get there, as he was expected to win at least a few matches. The conditions favour his style of play and serve; however, the serve betrayed him. It wasn't the only reason he lost because his opponent also played quite well, which Zverev recognized after the match.
Today, I played horrible. He played quite good, he served quite good but it's just a very, very bad match for me. I don't know what to say.
It was Zverev's first match in Tokyo after winning the gold medal for Germany two years ago. It should have been a happy return, and he was glad to be there but still wasn't in a great mood to talk about that after losing the match against Thompson.
I lost today so the feeling generally is not very great right now.
The disappointment is huge because not only was it a big event but also an ATP 500 event, which offers a bit more points than usual. We don't have many of those in the calendar, and it makes the Paris Masters even more important for Zverev. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks but it would be huge for him to find himself in Turin after the slow start to the season he had.
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