Alexander Zverev had to throw in the towel. © ANSA / JOHN G. MABANGLO

Indian Wells: Top seed Zverev loses opening match

Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, the top seeded player in the tennis tournament in Indian Wells, lost his opening match and was eliminated directly.

March 08, 2025

From: dpa/tu

After the bye in the first round, the 27-year-old from Hamburg lost to the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:7 (4:7). Since his defeat in the final at the Australian Open, Zverev has lost four of eight matches. Griekspoor is number 46 in the world rankings and used his 3th match point after 07 hours and 6 minutes. The number one spot in the world rankings is a long way off for Zverev, despite the ban for Jannik Sinner.

"I lost to him five times last year, they were all close and I always had my chances. It took a lot of work," said Griekspoor.

The Dutchman had his competitor's number. © ANSA / JOHN G. MABANGLO

Zverev was one of the favorites at the hard court tournament with prize money of 13 million US dollars and was the only German still in the ATP tournament. Zverev did not have the success he had hoped for in the smaller tournaments after the Australian Open.

Zverev repeatedly made minor errors against Griekspoor, but won the first set relatively confidently. His partner Sophia Thomalla was celebrating in the stands. In the second set, he came back after a 0:3 start and a 2:5 deficit at one point and had all the momentum on his side, but then lost in the tiebreak.

Often only on the defensive

In the third set, Zverev conceded the break to 1:2 after many easy errors at the net, but then got the rebreak to 2:2. With a double fault at 4:4, Zverev put himself under pressure and opened the door for the next break against him, but kept his nerve and won the point to make it 5:4. The Hamburg player still did not gain control, however, and Griekspoor worked his way to the break to 5:6 in long rallies in which Zverev could often only act from the defensive.

Zverev had to defend a lot. © ANSA / JOHN G. MABANGLO

For a quarter of an hour, Zverev had one leg out of play and fended off five match points on the way to a rebreak. But even that didn't give Zverev the necessary calm and he lost the match after the second tiebreak of the match.

The remaining top players convince

Otherwise, the best tennis players in the world feel at home in California. Favorites such as Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, Daniil Medvedev and Frances Tiafoe all made it to the next round. The two great Italian hopes Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti also made it through - in the absence of Jannik Sinner.