Top-ranked German tennis player Alexander Zverev suffered a surprise round-of-16 exit in Halle and afterward claimed he didn’t know what he could have done differently. Zverev, ranked at No. 6 in the world, lost in three sets his Halle opener as Ugo Humbert won 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-3.
As not a single break point was seen in the first set — the set went into a tie-break — in which Humbert realized his second set point to win a tight opener. After losing a tight first set, Zverev started the second set with a break and held on to his serve the rest of the way to force a decider.
In the third set, Humbert broke Zverev in the fourth game and then held on to his serve to book a win in three sets.
Zverev gave credit do Humbert
“I don’t particularly know what I could have done differently, to be honest,” Zverev said.
“Ugo was serving incredibly well in the first set, we both barely won points on each other’s serve. Then in the third set, I think he found his rhythm from the baseline. He was outplaying me. It is not a great result for me, but I don’t know what I could have done differently”.
Prior to Halle, Zverev was beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open semifinal. “I’m not trying to be arrogant, it’s just what it is. I didn’t win the tournament and that’s why I’m disappointed.
A final wouldn’t have been OK either. Wimbledon is in a two-week time and I’m looking for that,” Zverev said after the Tsitsipas loss. Meanwhile, Tsitsipas said: “All I can think of is my roots. I come from a really small place outside of Athens.
My dream was to play here and I would never have thought I would achieve it…. There were a lot of people cheering me on in my country and I’m very happy that Greece is part of the tennis community now. Maria [Sakkari] and I have done a good job of elevating the sport and keeping Greek tennis alive.”