NEW DELHI: Reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is hopeful the knee injury he suffered at Wimbledon will not impact his chances at the Paris Olympics, although the injury has not yet fully healed.
Zverev injured his knee during a third-round match against Cameron Norrie and continued to play, despite being in pain, in a fourth-round loss to Taylor Fritz.
Zverev participated in his home-city event in Hamburg last week, making it to the final before losing to Arthur Fils. The German tennis star described his injury as a bone edema and torn capsule, noting that it does not require surgery.
“To be honest, you know, the risk will stay for the next two, three, four weeks maybe because that’s how long the bone heals, and that’s what everybody told me,” Zverev said.
“But, at the end of the day I also knew that I don’t want to rest for four weeks because, now we’re playing on the surface where I don’t see that big of a risk of doing the same motion again and doing the same movement again.”
Zverev is also under consideration to be the flagbearer for Germany in the upcoming Olympic opening ceremony on Friday. He shared that this honor would mean a great deal to him.
“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 was quoted by 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.”
Zverev injured his knee during a third-round match against Cameron Norrie and continued to play, despite being in pain, in a fourth-round loss to Taylor Fritz.
Zverev participated in his home-city event in Hamburg last week, making it to the final before losing to Arthur Fils. The German tennis star described his injury as a bone edema and torn capsule, noting that it does not require surgery.
“To be honest, you know, the risk will stay for the next two, three, four weeks maybe because that’s how long the bone heals, and that’s what everybody told me,” Zverev said.
“But, at the end of the day I also knew that I don’t want to rest for four weeks because, now we’re playing on the surface where I don’t see that big of a risk of doing the same motion again and doing the same movement again.”
Zverev is also under consideration to be the flagbearer for Germany in the upcoming Olympic opening ceremony on Friday. He shared that this honor would mean a great deal to him.
“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 was quoted by 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.”
