Strong in mini golf, doubts about tennis · tennisnet.com

Alexander Zverev continues to struggle with health at the Masters in Shanghai. The world number three makes his way through – and excels away from the hard court.

Things are going smoothly on the nine holes next to the Players Lounge: Alexander Zverev consistently holes holes safely on the beautiful mini golf course of the Shanghai Masters and proudly shows off the rankings as the overall leader. His rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are not appearing at the top here for the time being.

Tennis is undoubtedly the main focus of the highly paid professionals in the Chinese metropolis. But variety is part of it, especially if you stay in the tournament for a long time – and that’s what Zverev plans to do. He mastered his start confidently on Saturday with a 6:4, 6:2 against the Italian Mattia Bellucci. But the physical problems continue to plague the top German players.

“I took antibiotics and didn’t exercise for a whole week. The lung story won’t go away overnight, and it will take a few more weeks,” said Zverev on Sky. During the matches he feels that he is not at 100 percent of his performance: “I still feel like I maybe get tired a little quicker and maybe I’m a little slower on the court than normal.”

Nevertheless, Zverev managed to return to work quite easily after a week’s sick leave due to pneumonia. “In terms of tennis, I thought I played quite well,” said the Tokyo Olympic champion: “Considering the fact that I didn’t train for a week and didn’t really prepare for the tournament, I thought the level was quite good.”

The world number three continues the hunt for points for the ranking and possibly even the 23rd tournament victory against either the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor or the Australian Jordan Thompson. Zverev definitely hopes to go far. If this doesn’t work, his strong performance in mini golf would at least be a small consolation.

Here is the individual tableau in Shanghai

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