Alexander Zverev is back on the clay courts, 10 months after he suffered the worst injury of his career. During last year’s French Open semifinal match against Rafael Nadal, Zverev crushed on the court and immediately started screaming in pain.
After receiving treatment from the medical staff, Zverev was assisted into a wheelchair. Later, the tests revealed Zverev tore several ankle ligaments and he ended up missing the entire second half of the 2022 season. This week, Zverev posted a practice photo and wrote: “Dear clay, will we fall in love again?”
Clay ð pic.twitter.com/SB0R71ZHcb — Team Zverev (@zverev_team) March 30, 2023
Zverev feared his career was over
When Zverev crushed on the court, the entire crowd went silent as many were absolutely horrified by what they just witnessed.
This past December, Zverev admitted that his instant fear was that his career was over. “Definitely, I think there were a few of them. But the one was really when I thought I was healthy and when I thought I could come back in the Davis Cup.
And the actual injury was also healed, but then I was told that the bones are not ready for the strain. Because I had extreme bone damage, had bone edema, and also a stress fracture in my bone at some point. That was a bit difficult for me mentally.
Because then I had to start again and was told that now I can’t do anything for 6 weeks. That was not so nice and not so easy. But when the accident happened, the first thought was, ‘Your career is over. What if something is broken that you can never come back from or will never come back from?'” Zverev said in December.
Zverev is set to kick off his clay season at the Monte Carlo Masters, which is starting on April 9th. In Monte Carlo, Zverev is a two-time semifinalist. It remains to be seen if this is the year Zverev achieves his best-ever run in Monte Carlo.
