Alexander Zverev has made no final decision about whether he will play in the Next Generation Finals after crashing out of the Shanghai Masters to Juan Martin del Potro.
The German 20-year-old is the highest ranked player to qualify for the new event, which features the eight best players under the age of 21. In the Race to Milan he leads his nearest rival, Andrey Rublev, by more than 3000 points. So far this season Zverev has won five titles on the tour, including two in Masters 1000 tournaments.
Zverev’s dilemma is that the Milan tournament occurs a week before the ATP Tour finals in London. Hosted at the O2 Arena, this year’s round-robin draw is set to be headlined by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Zverev will be making his debut at the end-of-year tournament with the aim of only being the third player from his country to win the trophy. Michael Stich and Boris Becker are currently the only German winners.
“This is something I’m going to talk about with my whole team, but London is obviously the bigger event out of those two. If I have to choose one, it’s going to be London.” Said Zverev.
The world No.4 has suffered a blow to his year-end preparations after crashing out 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, to del Potro in the third round of the Shanghai Masters. Despite making a strong start of the match, Zverev was unable to find a solution to break his opponent’s serve. Del Potro managed to win 89% of his first service points throughout the entire match. Zverev allowed his emotions to get the better of him in the final set. At 2-2 Del Potro clinched the decisive break for 3-2, prompting the German to destroy his racket.
Alex Zverev (🎥@TennisTV ) pic.twitter.com/kv0wlQFAbR
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) 12 October 2017
“I think he played a great match, maybe one of the best of the season. I think we both played pretty well from the baseline.” Reflected Zverev after the match.
“In my eyes, I did a horrible job, maybe returning or getting the points going on his serve.” He later added.
It was evident how frustrated he was after the match. During an encounter lasting almost two hours, he only managed to get two break point opportunities (both in the opening set). Hitting 46 winners to 32 unforced errors.
“I don’t understand how I can lose a match where I get broken one time in three sets and not manage to get any chances on his serve.” Said the third seed.
“I’m a bit pissed off about that, because I feel like I played well and I feel like that’s the upsetting part. I feel like I could have done great in this tournament if I get through this match.”
Del Potro will take on either John Isner or Viktor Troicki in the quarter-finals.
