Alexander Zverev has confirmed he will not play his home event at the Hamburg Open, which directly proceeds the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland Garros.
Zverev suffered a shock defeat at the Italian Open, at the hands of Luciano Darderi, after which he publicly slammed the Masters event for the condition of its courts.
The German was set to head to the Hamburg Open next, a tournament he has played consistently during his time on the ATP Tour, but now that will not be the case.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Zverev wrote: “Hamburg is my hometown, and it is always something very special for me to play in front of my home crowd. Unfortunately, I have been dealing with back problems throughout the entire clay-court season.
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“My medical team has therefore strongly advised me to take a break from competition next week and focus on recovery. I always tried everything possible to be able to compete in the tournament and even played through injury at times, but this time I have to listen to my body and follow the advice of my medical team.”
Zverev’s latest withdrawal is likely just a precaution to stay fit ahead of Roland Garros, but it is still a major worry for the current World No. 3.
He would have been secretly delighted to see Alcaraz withdraw from Roland Garros, as it gives him a better chance of claiming the first Grand Slam title of his career.
However, if Zverev is not fit he will have an even smaller chance of toppling Jannik Sinner, who is in truly exceptional form on the clay this year.
It’s also worth noting that Zverev has not missed the Hamburg Open since the 2022 season, so this decision would have really hurt the German.
The star won the event in 2023 and reached the final a year later, in a losing effort to Arthur Fils. In 2025, Zverev was knocked out in the second round at the hands of Alexandre Muller.
Alexander Zverev’s impressive record at Roland Garros
Despite suffering a bump in the road ahead of Roland Garros, Zverev has a reason to be confident ahead of the clay court Grand Slam event.
The German has an excellent record at the Paris event, which has seen his best form over the other three Grand Slams. Zverev holds a 79% win rate at Roland Garros, having won 38 of his 48 matches at the tournament.
That makes it his most successful Grand Slam in terms of win rate and the German will be hopeful he can reach the final for the first time since 2024.
Zverev has reached the quarter-final of later at Roland Garros in his last five appearances at the Paris Grand Slam.
The post Alexander Zverev issues statement after withdrawing ATP event just before Roland Garros appeared first on Tennis365.
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