Current Olympic titleholder Alexander Zverev remains optimistic that his knee injury from Wimbledon won’t affect his quest for gold in Paris, although he admits it hasn’t fully healed.
The German athlete slipped and injured his knee during a third-round match against Cameron Norrie at the All England Club, continuing to compete on “one leg” in his subsequent fourth-round defeat to Taylor Fritz. Despite this setback, Zverev participated in the Hamburg tournament last week, reaching the final but ultimately losing to Arthur Fils on Sunday.
The 27-year-old, who triumphed over Karen Khachanov in the Tokyo final, explains that his injury consists of bone oedema and a torn capsule, conditions that fortunately do not necessitate surgery. “Honestly, the risk will persist for the next two to four weeks because that’s the duration required for bone healing, as advised by everyone,” Zverev stated. “However, I realised that I didn’t want to rest for four weeks because we’re now competing on a surface where I don’t perceive a significant risk of repeating the same motion or movement.”
Zverev is among the German athletes considered to carry the flag during Friday’s opening ceremony. “If someone told me that I should walk in as a flag bearer, it would mean even more to me, to be honest (than winning the Olympics),” Zverev told SpilXperten. “Leading an entire nation and so many top German athletes into the Olympics is simply the greatest honour an athlete can receive. And of course, the gold medal I won at the last Olympics is one of the highest achievements you can have in sports and for me personally the greatest success in my career.”
