US Open: Alexander Zverev’s opponents had “extremely many problems”

For his round of 16 match at the US Open, Alexander Zverev can get valuable tips from his Russian training buddy Andrey Rublev.

The German 2021 Olympic tennis champion will face Brandon Nakashima today at the Grand Slam tournament in New York.

The American suffered straight two-set defeats against Rublev in two preparation tournaments in a row.

“I can perhaps ask Andrey what the tactics are,” said Zverev, and said of his next opponents: “He is someone who has had a lot of problems with injuries in recent years. But he is now playing outstanding tennis again. I expect it to be a difficult match. The two old duels with Nakashima were decided in his favor.

Under normal circumstances, the world number 50, who is in the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time in his career, should not pose any insurmountable problems for Zverev. The four-set victory against the Argentine clay court specialist Tomás Martin Etcheverry increased his self-confidence despite a mediocre performance at the beginning.

“I knew that I could win even when I had bad games. I showed that again,” said Zverev, who will make it to the quarterfinals of the US Open for the fourth time in a row.

US Open: No more night shift for Alexander Zverev

After the third round match ended at 2:35 a.m., Zverev will now be back in action in the afternoon. The round of 16 is not scheduled to begin before 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. CEST).

In parties of the night session under floodlights, the two title favorites Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz failed before the late riser Zverev.

“I can understand why Novak and Carlos had such problems here at night,” said Zverev from his own experience. “It’s very, very different to play here at night. It’s very, very slow, the ball bounces very, very low. I’m glad we’re through.”