Zverev: “Alcaraz is a candidate, without a doubt”

The German Alexander Zverev, first seed, assured this Friday that Carlos Alcaraz is, “without a doubt”, a candidate to win the United States Open, despite reaching the fourth Grand Slam of the season after more than four months of absence from the courts due to his wrist injury.

He said this at the press conference organized in Flushing Meadows on the media day prior to the start of the last ‘big’ of the season, and considered that the injury suffered by Alcaraz was very different from the ankle injury he suffered in 2022.

“It’s very different, because I think it’s a different injury. I think a wrist injury is never easy, for sure. I know this because my brother also had a wrist injury and it takes time to recover from an injury like that,” Zverev said.

“Mine was different, because I tore seven ligaments, fractured two bones and had to have surgery. It took me a year to come back, so it was something different. I think he is probably at the same physical level now, or even better, because surely in the last four or five months he has done a lot of physical work, something that I couldn’t do because I couldn’t walk,” he added.

“So I expect that maybe he will be a little bit lacking in rhythm in the first or second game, but, once he overcomes that, I think he will definitely be one of the candidates here,” concluded the German.

Zverev won his long-awaited first ‘big’ at Roland Garros this year and is the first seed in New York, but he does not feel like a favorite.

“Not really. I think being seeded is nice and it’s a good sign that you’ve been playing well, but I think the most important thing is who’s at the bottom of the draw and who’s still here in two weeks. I think that’s the main goal of everyone in the draw,” he said.