By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday, December 9, 2022
Back in action at an exhibition in Saudi Arabia, former World No.2 Alexander Zverev is hoping to test out his surgically repaired ankle so that he may begin the 2023 season in good form.
After having his season cut short by an ankle injury at Roland-Garros, Zverev is finally healthy enough to take the court. He defeated Dominic Thiem (10-8, 10-7) before falling to Daniil Medvedev (6-4, 6-0) at the exhibition event.
In an interview with Eurosport before play began at the Diriyah Cup in Saudi Arabia, Zverev talked about the 2022 season, and the rise of Carlos Alcaraz.
"It's beautiful for tennis,” he said of the teens’ breakthrough. “You can see that the new generation can play very good tennis and that tennis is in good hands.”
But Zverev, who finished at No.3 in the 2021 ATP rankings with 1,000 more points than Alcaraz’s point total in 2022, says that we must look closely at the state of the ATP rankings. Novak Djokovic finished No.5 with 4,820 points but the 21-time major champion didn’t get his 2,000 points from Wimbledon, nor was he able to compete at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal, Cincinnati and the US Open. Djokovic, who finished 2021 with 11,540 points, could have had a lot more this season, clearly.
“It was a strange year because Alcaraz finished the year as World No. 1 with [6,820] points,” Zverev, who knocked Alcaraz out of Roland-Garros in 2022 and owns a 3-1 lifetime edge against the Spaniard, said. “Last year I had over 8,000 points (he actually finished with 7,840) and was number three in the world. It's been a weird year in that way.”.
Nevertheless, Zverev remains impressed by the rising Spanish tour de force.
"It's not really surprising. I played against him for the first time in Acapulco in 2021,” he said. “I already said: 'He's going to be crazy, he's going to be an incredible player.' To be honest he is too.
“There were a lot of factors at play [in 2022], Novak wasn't at the US Open, Rafa maybe wasn't at 100 percent, Daniil after his back injury and surgery wasn't quite where he was either last year with his tennis. So he took his chance. Hats off! He was the best player in New York. He proved that cold.”