Wimbledon and Alexander Zverev – that’s no longer a love affair. The tennis Olympic champion lost on Saturday evening in the classic lawn against the Italian Matteo Berrettini 3: 6, 6: 7 (4: 7), 6: 7 (5: 7) and was eliminated in the third round.
The most popular tennis event in Germany because of the legendary triumphs of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf in the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is still Zverev’s worst Grand Slam tournament. He has never advanced beyond the round of 16 in London, this time even finishing a round early.
Zverev had to admit defeat against Berrettini after 2:27 hours. “I can’t really blame myself today,” said Zverev. “He just served too well, what should I do? That’s lawn tennis,” said the native of Hamburg. “Of course I’m disappointed today, but it was bitter that I met Matteo in the third round,” said Zverev. “If he keeps playing like this, he can win the tournament.”
Zverev as the last German out
The game was temporarily interrupted for three quarters of an hour due to rain. So Wimbledon continues without German participation in the individual. Zverev was the last of ten German tennis professionals to retire in south London.
In the sixth duel with the strong Italian, it was Zverev’s second defeat. Berrettini, in the final in Wimbledon in 2021, will now meet the Spanish world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 16 on Monday.
“It feels indescribable. I didn’t think something like this was possible,” said Berrettini. “It’s just a very special place for me. This tournament changed my life,” said the 27-year-old, who was in the final at Wimbledon in 2021.
Zverev actually started dominantly on Court 1. The 26-year-old had a breakball in the Italian’s first service game, but Berrettini fended it off with a strong service. Zverev himself, on the other hand, initially got through his service games without any problems. Only when the score was 3:4 did he get into trouble for the first time and immediately conceded the break. Shortly thereafter, Berrettini took the first set after 33 minutes.
Zverev struggled and kept looking into the box for help from his coaching team. Zverev just couldn’t find a way to return the Italian’s serves. However, he also served first-class himself. In the first four service games of the second set, Zverev didn’t give up a single point.
Rain causes a break
Then a short but heavy rain shower caused an interruption. The roof over the second largest stadium in the complex had not been closed. The promoters are trying to play outdoors for as long and as often as possible and seem to have been caught off guard by the showers.
The organizers used the 45-minute break to close the roof. The spectators passed the waiting time with the La Ole wave, but when Zverev and Berrettini returned, things didn’t continue immediately. The Italian in particular, like Zverev, had just returned from an injury, complained that the lawn was still too wet and slippery due to the rain. Both players discussed for minutes with the referee and the referee before the match continued.
The decision in the second set was made in the tie-break. There Zverev made one mistake too many, so that the Italian pulled away 2-0 sets. Zverev also showed a good performance in the third section. The German number one gave everything, unpacked the famous Becker pike himself. When the score was 3: 4, he fended off four breakballs in a sometimes spectacular way.
But Berrettini just served world class, didn’t give Zverev a single chance to take the service away from him after the breakball in the very first service game. It went back to the tie-break, where the Italian again had better nerves.
