ATP Tour

Zverev after Wimbledon upset: 'I've never felt this empty before'

Alexander Zverev suffered a shocking first-round exit at Wimbledon on Tuesday, the German’s earliest Grand Slam defeat since 2019 — also at the All England Club. The third seed fell to Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, continuing this year’s Wimbledon trend of seeded players going down early.

It could be easy to point to the fact that Zverev never found a way to break Rinderknech’s booming serve (0/9 break points), or suggest that Monday night’s suspension due to the 11 p.m. curfew took some sort of mental toll.

But Zverev’s assessment of the four-hour, 40-minute battle — won by Rinderknech 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 — has the 28-year-old contemplating the bigger picture.

“I've never felt this empty before. Just lacking joy, just lacking joy in everything that I do,” Zverev said in his post-match press conference. “It's not necessarily about tennis. Just lacking joy outside of tennis, as well.”

It was just six months ago when Zverev made a run to the Australian Open championship match, which marked his third major final. He then hit a cold patch, winning just six of his next 12 matches. After winning the ATP 500 in Munich and reaching the quarter-finals of Rome and Roland Garros, it appeared Zverev found his form again. He transitioned to grass by making the final in Stuttgart and semi-finals in Halle.

Zverev's stretch of inconsistent form since has him searching for answers that may reside off court.

“I don't think tennis is the problem right now for me,” Zverev said. “It's something else that I have to find within me at the moment. But something within me has to change, which is not necessarily on the tennis court.”

When asked if he might consider working with a mental coach, Zverev spoke candidly, saying, “Maybe for the first time in my life I'll probably need it”.

“It's funny, I feel very alone out there at times. I struggle mentally,” he added. “I don't know. It's difficult to find joy outside the tennis court for me at the moment.

“It's not an excuse or anything. I think Arthur deserved to win today. It's something I've felt for the past few months. Again, I just feel generally very, very alone and very lonely. I don't know. Just never felt that way before.”

A pivotal moment of Zverev’s opening-round clash came at 1-1 in the fifth set when the 24-time tour-level titlist dropped serve despite racing to a 40/0 lead that game. That was enough for Rinderknech to charge towards the biggest win of his career.

“I think generally [Arthur] played a fantastic match,” Zverev said. “I'm not sure he's ever played a match like that in his life.”

Holding a 35-14 season record, Zverev is just two victories shy of 500 career wins. Third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, Zverev remains in good position to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, a tournament he won in 2018 and 2021.