Alexander Zverev has described his form as ‘terrible’ after the German lost to Tallon Griekspoor in three hours.
The German has had multiple opportunities to take advantage of Jannik Sinner’s absence but so far Zverev has yet to capitalise.
After early exits in Buenos Aires and Rio De Janeiro, Zverev crumbled as he lost 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(4) to Tallon Griekspoor in his Indian Wells opener.
Speaking after his California exit Zverev described his form as ‘terrible’ as he works on a solution, “It was in the beginning. Now it’s less, because I’m just playing terribly,” Zverev said to the ATP website when asked about if he thinks about the world number one ranking.
“So for me, I have to find my game before thinking about that, because to become World No. 1, you have to win tournaments. I’m not getting past the first, second round at the moment. So I need to figure that out first.
“At the end of the day I’m just not playing good tennis at the moment. It’s as simple as that. I’m not playing a level that I want to play, definitely not playing anywhere near what I played in Australia. I’m just disappointed with my game. That’s No. 1 thing for me.
“It’s just practice. I practice a lot. I played the Australian Open final and I started practising less. I keep working, but right now it’s not clicking. I have to find a way to make that happen.”
Zverev is still yet to get past the quarter-final stage at Indian Wells and is now 3,385 points behind Sinner in the ATP rankings.
The German will hope to fix his form for the Miami Open which starts on the 18th of March.
