Alexander Zverev has admitted he doesn’t know if he’ll be 100 per cent for his Cincinnati Open semi-final with Carlos Alcaraz after suffering a health scare last night. The world No.3 turned in one of his best displays of the season against home favourite Ben Shelton to win 6-2 6-2 in just 77 minutes.
However, after performing seamlessly in the first set, he appeared to struggle at the start of the second set. Zverev needed a medical timeout, later revealing he had endured a dizzy spell. He also had breathing problems, but after being checked over, he regained his focus to close out the win.
Afterwards, Zverev admitted he was still feeling the ill effects. And he was anything but confident when discussing if he would be at his best to face Alcaraz for a place in Monday’s final.
“I’m not feeling too great right now. I have a day to get fresh and hopefully feel 100 per cent again,” he conceded. “We will see. I’m not sure what happened. I stepped onto the court today and felt the best in a few months.
“I was feeling the ball incredibly well from both sides. But I started feeling not so great at the end of the opening set, and things got progressively worse. I will do everything to be at my best tomorrow.”
The quick turnaround is likely to work against the 28-year-old. Having endured a late-night finish against Shelton, he’s due back on court today at 11pm UK time.
Zverev is chasing his first title since prevailing at the BMW Open in Munich in April. If he makes it past Alcaraz, he’ll face either world No.1 Jannik Sinner or qualifier Terrence Atmane for the trophy.
The star has been criticised this season for his failure to take Sinner’s top spot in the rankings despite the Italian serving a three-month doping ban. After this tournament, he’ll head to the US Open still chasing his maiden Grand Slam title.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk