Alexander Zverev admits his exit from the Canadian Masters doesn’t surprise him, describing his latest performance as one of the worst of the season.
The top seed suffered a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4 loss to world No.69 Tallon Griekspoor. Coming into the clash, Zverev had a winning head-to-head record of 9-2 against the Dutchman and hadn’t lost his opening match at the tournament since 2016. It is the first time this year he has lost his opening match at an ATP tournament.
“I expected not to play well this week,” Zverev said following his defeat.
“I played very well the last couple of months; I took a little bit of time off. And I practiced then, but it’s tough competition.”
Zverev, who was playing for the first time since Wimbledon, committed 23 unforced errors, 12 of them on his forehand side. He also struggled behind his second serve, winning only 41% of points played.
“I didn’t expect to play well. I also didn’t expect to play this bad, to be honest,” the world No.3 continued.
“I think this was probably the worst match of the season that I’ve had this year. I didn’t have many bad matches, but this one was up there as the worst.
“But that’s okay. It’s a process. Tennis comes with ups and downs. I’m very happy with how the last couple of months were. Now it’s about getting back to that form.”
Another high-profile exit was fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, who suffered a 6-3, 7-6(5) loss to Botic van de Zandschulp. He was aiming to win his 100th hardcourt match at a Masters 1000 event.
“I felt great. I had very good practice. I beat most of the guys. I think I lost like one practice set,” said Medvedev.
“I was playing great, and I was playing ten times worse in the match, which can happen, but should not if you want to win.”
Three of the four highest-seeded players have already exited Montreal. Besides Zverev and Medvedev, home favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime was forced to withdraw after suffering a back injury whilst training.
Top names missing out on the Canadian Open title is nothing new for the tournament. The last time a player with a top-three seeding won the title was five years ago when Medvedev did so. Ben Shelton, who won his opening match in straight sets against Jenson Brooksby, was fourth when he won the trophy last year.
“I think with the conditions and the balls, there is going to be some strange-ish results, ranking-wise, player-wise, that you maybe don’t expect during other tournaments,” Zverev commented.
“It’s the first hard court event for us in a couple of months. I think everybody is still trying to find their form.”
Alex de Minaur is the highest-ranked player left in the draw.
