Alexander Zverev kicked off his 2024 Hamburg Open campaign with a solid win over Jesper De Jong, putting a knee injury in the rear-view window.
Before making his way to his native Hamburg, Zverev played in London at Wimbledon. He was having an above-average Wimbledon for his standards, but it was unfortunately derailed by a knee injury he sustained against Cameron Norrie.
In the next match he played in London, he was lost to an inspired Taylor Fritz, who fought back from 0-2 deficit to win the match in five sets. After the match, Zverev extensively detailed the knee injury, which proved to be problematic.
Even a few days ago, Zverev admitted that he was unsure of whether he’d actually play in Hamburg. He eventually made it to the ATP 500 event, and he played really well.
The opponent was a measured one who doesn’t have too much experience on this level but can be dangerous on clay, as proven by some of his performances this year.
None of that bothered Zverev, who outplayed him in the opening set 6-2. Much of what the Dutch player does well has to do with his serve, but he couldn’t serve well in the opening set
That gave the home crowd hero a lot of chances to impose his aggressive approach, and he did, hitting 14 winners in that opening set.
On the serve, the German was too strong, barely dropping any points and never allowing a single break point. De Jong played better in the second set because he served better, but it didn’t make that much of a difference.
Zverev was still able to break relatively early in the second set and, from there, cruise to the finish line. The final score was 6-2, 6-2 for Zverev, who finished with 28 winners which was far more than de Jong’s 6.
