Alexander Zverev continues to decline in 2019 after losing 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5 to Jiri Vesely in the first round of Wimbledon.
Despite hitting 24 aces, Alexander Zverev couldn’t find confidence as he went out to the Czech Republican qualifier in four sets.
It all went downhill for the German after winning the first as Vesely once again proved why he has done so well at Wimbledon in the past.
Next for Vesely is Pablo Cuevas, who edged out Damir Dzumhur in five sets.
Both players started the match with confidence as they looked to impose their powerful styles of play onto court in this opening round.
It was an especially good start from Zverev, given his patchy season as he looked to dominate the match through a high first serve percentage.
Though the German’s serve was on fire, his return game was less so as he couldn’t spot the patterns that Vesely used to hold onto his service games.
It looked like a tiebreak was looming in the first set with both players holding serves efficiently and gaining good power on their groundstrokes.
However out of nowhere, the 6th seed managed to create his first break point from 40-0 down and took his opportunity to seal the opening set 6-4.
The break had come out of nothing and Zverev looked to continue the momentum into the second set as he continued to serve fairly well.
Having gone through qualifying, Vesely had the confidence to know that he can turn the match around and in extraordinary circumstances he managed to do that.
More unforced errors and less confident serving opened the doors for the Czech Republican to dominate the match as he broke twice to take the second set.
A run of seven games saw the German 3-0 down and frustrated as it looked like it was going to be another frustrating grand slam day in the office.
There was hope when a couple of double faults saw Zverev have a few break point opportunities but some more big serving saw a hold for 5-2.
That missed opportunity clearly had an effect on the 22 year-old as Vesely, who was the more intense of the two players, broke again as he sealed a 2 sets to 1 lead.
Half-opportunities were created for the ATP Finals champion in the fourth set as he looked to make a crucial breakthrough in the fourth set.
But once again Vesely mixed up his serves again and used the body serve to deny the German the opportunity to get the advantage.
After trying everything, eventually Zverev couldn’t unlock the keys to force a fifth set and a lack of concentration saw his serve broken in the 12th game to seal a massive win for the Czech qualifier.
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A massive victory for him sees a passage into the second round as he was just too powerful and more confident against Zverev.
After the match the German did say that confidence was a huge factor in the match, “So, yeah. I didn’t lose this match on tennis. It’s just, yeah, my confidence is below zero right now,” he explained in his press conference.
As for the German now his struggles continue as he looks to figure out what has gone so wrong in his season so far, ahead of the US swing.
