"My Stomach Turned" Knee Slam and Battling Illness: Zverev Reaches the Semifinals at Halle Open
Struggling with vomiting and knee-highs, Zverev advances to the semifinals.
Share Tweet Text Email Print Copy Link An unexpected health hiccup and knee incident: Despite the challenges, Alexander Zverev manages to secure a spot in the semifinals of the Halle Open grass tournament. His upcoming opponent is the "toughest" yet in his career - Russian standout Daniil Medvedev.
To begin with, Zverev sprinted off the court for a much-needed bathroom break, only to return a few minutes later having overcome a brief bout of vomiting, and then cracked his left knee with his racket. But any setbacks couldn't hold back the best German tennis talent at the ATP tournament in Halle, Germany: After battling past Flavio Cobolli from Italy in a hard-fought 6:4, 7:6 (8:6), he now faces Medvedev in the semifinals.
"I felt fine before the match, and then suddenly I didn't anymore. I had to... well, you know," Zverev said candidly after the game about the unpleasant moment during the first set when he had to abruptly leave the court. "I never had anything like that happen before, but after that, it was a great match."
Sports The Challenger Awaits Is Zverev ready for Wimbledon after this nail-biter? Even though the health scare briefly slowed him down, Zverev managed to shrug it off with a chuckle when he hit his knee with his rackets at 3:1. However, the match was far from an easy win: The spirited Cobolli, who had previously shown promising form at the Hamburg tournament, proved tough to beat, but couldn't take advantage of the six break points he had.
Ready for the "Toughest Opponent"
After 1:41 nail-biting hours, Zverev converted his second match point - he will now confront an opponent on grass who he never finds comfort against. Zverev has a negative record against Medvedev, having lost 12 out of 19 matches, including 11 of the last 13. "He is one of the toughest opponents I've ever faced in my career," Zverev admitted about the man he has battled more times than anyone else, adding, "I can't wait." The two would last meet in the 2024 Australian Open semifinals, when Medvedev emerged victorious after coming back from an initial 0:2 deficit.
Sports Sinner Suffers Shocking Surprise Zverev Advances After an Emotional Showdown with Cobolli The third-seeded Medvedev was the first to reach the semifinals, having defeated Alex Michelsen from the USA 6:4, 6:3. Just like Zverev, Medvedev too had to take a quick break: While leading 3:1 in the second set, the Russian retreated to the courtside sofa to deal with a sudden nosebleed.
Zverev has been a regular participant in Halle, making the semifinals for the ninth time. However, he has yet to capture the trophy. In 2016, he lost the final to Florian Mayer and again in 2017 to Roger Federer.
Source: ntv.de, ses/sid
- Tennis
- Alexander Zverev
- Halle
Additional Facts:
- Despite facing health and physical challenges during his quarterfinal match, Zverev managed to recover and advance to the semifinals.
- Zverev has a consistently strong performance at Halle, having reached five or more semifinals, a feat shared with former champions like Roger Federer and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
- Zverev and Medvedev share a fierce rivalry, with the Russian holding a consistent edge over the German.
- Zverev has never won the Halle Open tournament despite participating several times. His best results so far have been losing in the finals in 2016 (against Florian Mayer) and 2017 (against Roger Federer).
I'm not going to be able to overlook the challenging match against Daniil Medvedev in tennis, especially since I have a difficult history against him, winning only seven out of the 29 matches we've played.
In the heat of the game, I might momentarily struggle, as I've shown during my recent bout of illness and the incident where I accidentally hit my knee with my racket.
