Alexander Zverev, the current Olympic champion, believes his knee injury sustained at Wimbledon won’t affect his chances of winning gold in Paris, but he claims it hasn’t fully healed.
In his third-round victory against Cameron Norrie at the All England Club, the German stumbled and injured his knee. He claimed to have played with only his one leg dominant in his fourth-round defeat to Taylor Fritz. However, Zverev competed in his home city event in Hamburg last week, making it to the championship match before falling to Arthur Fils.
The athlete described his ailment as a torn capsule and bone edema and stated surgery was not necessary. He said: “To be honest, you know, the risk will stay for the next two, three, four weeks maybe because that’s how long the bone heals, and that’s what everybody told me.”
He added: “But, at the end of the day, I also knew that I don’t want to rest for four weeks because now, we’re playing on the surface where I don’t see that big a risk of making the same motion again and doing the same movement again.”
Zverev and the upcoming Olympics
Aside from playing for his home country, Zverev is among the athletes from Germany who are considered to be raising their national flag during the opening ceremony.
With this prestigious opportunity, he admitted: “If someone told me that I should walk in as a flag bearer, it would mean even more to me, to be honest (than winning the Olympics)… Leading an entire nation and so many top German athletes into the Olympics is simply the greatest honour an athlete can receive. And, of course, the gold medal I won at the last Olympics is one of the highest achievements you can have in sports and, for me personally, the greatest success in my career.”
Source: CNA