LONDON:
Alexander Zverev said he is finally playing pain-free and enjoying his tennis again after a serious ankle injury and subsequent complications that ended his 2022 season.
Zverev, 25, underwent surgery to repair damaged ankle ligaments following an injury he sustained during his French Open semi-final against Rafa Nadal in June last year.
The return of the German was postponed again in September when he suffered from bone edema.
After returning to competition in December, Zverev lost in the second round of the Australian Open last month and Rotterdam last week. However, the 2020 US Open runner-up said he is free from his injury problems.
“I don’t have it in the back of my mind. A few weeks ago I used to get signals from my leg,” said Zverev to reporters in Doha.
“It’s in the right direction, and I feel that I can play freely now. I felt that way in Rotterdam. I thought that I played better in Rotterdam than the previous weeks, even though I lost in the second round.
“I’m looking forward to the next few weeks, and hopefully it’s going well.”
Zverev, who faces Andy Murray in the second round of Doha on Wednesday, said he expected to be out for several months because his hamstring was difficult to dig out but it was a break from the game was exactly what he needed.
“I packed my bags and went on holiday,” said the former world number two.
“I didn’t do any rehab, it helped me a lot, because my leg needed a rest, I tried really hard to come back, and I may have done too much.
“That is in the past now, and hopefully we can look forward without any problems.”
.