Tennis star Alexander Zverev has revealed he spent “hours and hours” speaking to Rafael Nadal after his shock Wimbledon defeat. The German, ranked third in the world, was expected to breeze past world No.72 Arthur Rinderknech when they faced off in the first round at SW19 in late June.
But Zverev was left shellshocked after suffering a huge upset after five sets. The 28-year-old, despite having been in fine form on grass until that match, lost 7-6(3) 6-7 6-3 6-7 6-4. Zverev has since opened up about the psychological damage the defeat inflicted on him, resulting in the worst period of his career and leading him to take a four-week break from competitive tennis. He finally returned to action at the Toronto Open, where he reached the semi-finals but was knocked out by Karen Khachanov on Wednesday night.
It was only after a training camp with 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal’s uncle, Toni, that he was able to get back on the right track. Zverev has now shed light on the 10 days he spent in Mallorca, where he spent hours picking their brains and sometimes spoke to the tennis legend until the early hours of the morning.
Zverev said during his press conference: “It was amazing. I spent about ten days there, worked really hard and enjoyed it as well. I think Toni enjoyed it as well. I’m trying to convince him to do more weeks with me; we’ll see how it goes, but he’s a very busy man.”
Explaining how he ended up at Nadal’s famous academy centre, he said: “Uncle Toni contacted me after Wimbledon. I was very thankful for that. We spoke on the phone for about an hour and a half, exchanged some messages, and then I decided to go to Mallorca to see him.
“He’s a great coach, no doubt, but he’s also someone who can give you a lot of confidence because when he speaks – and when Rafa speaks – you listen. They spent many hours talking to me and gave me a great perspective.”
He added: “Rafa gave me a great perspective on what it’s really like to play against me because he saw me as a player and now has seen me as a spectator. It was very helpful. Again, we spent hours and hours talking, sometimes until after midnight, at dinners and things like that. So it was great to be there.”
Nadal and Zverev are former rivals, with the retired Spaniard boasting a 7-4 record over the German in head-to-heads. Despite that respectable record, Zeverev is yet to win a Grand Slam, reaching three finals and losing each of them – the most recent being an Australian Open defeat to Jannik Sinner.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk