Alexander Zverev is heading into his Cincinnati Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz with a pretty big problem on his hands.
He’s not feeling well.
The German star started getting sick during his quarter-final win over Ben Shelton, and now he’s got less than 24 hours to get back to 100% before facing the world’s second-ranked player.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Zverev | 28 | 6,885 | 34 - 10 |
The Stage is Set for Drama
The Cincinnati semi-finals are shaping up to be incredible. Three of the top players in the world made it through, plus Terence Atmane – currently ranked 136th – who’s been the feel-good story of the tournament.
Jannik Sinner gets Atmane in what should be a pretty straightforward match.
But Zverev versus Alcaraz? That’s the blockbuster everyone wants to see.
The path to get here couldn’t have been more different for these two. Alcaraz had to grind through a tough three-setter against Andrey Rublev, winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in what looked like a really draining match.
Zverev, meanwhile, absolutely crushed Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-2. He ended the American’s nine-match winning streak and barely broke a sweat doing it.
At least, that’s how it looked from the outside.
The Plot Twist
Here’s where things get interesting. Zverev might’ve won easily, but he started feeling awful during the second set.
"Right now, I’m not feeling too great," Zverev said after the match. "We’ll see. I have a day to get fresh and to hopefully feel 100% again."
That’s not exactly what you want to hear before playing one of the best players in the world.
"I’m not sure what happened, I came out today and probably felt the best I did in a few months. I was feeling the ball incredibly well from both sides."
The timing couldn’t be worse. Zverev said he felt amazing at the start – maybe the best he’s felt in months. Then everything went downhill.
"But I started feeling not so great at the end of the opening set, and things got progressively worse. But I’m in the semi-finals and I’ll do everything I can to be 100 per cent tomorrow."
A Massive Challenge Ahead
Even if Zverev feels perfect, this is going to be tough. Alcaraz has won two of the last five Grand Slams and he’s playing some of his best tennis right now.
Zverev knows what it’s like to win in Cincinnati, though. He took the title back in 2021, beating guys like Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Casper Ruud along the way.
But this year’s path to the title looks brutal.
He already knocked out Shelton, who’d been the hottest player on tour over the past couple weeks. Now he’s got to face the world No. 2.
And if he somehow gets through that? He’ll probably have to beat Sinner, the world No. 1 who’s won three of the last five majors.
The New Big Two
What we’re seeing here is pretty familiar if you’ve followed tennis for a while. Alcaraz and Sinner are starting to dominate the sport the same way Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer used to.
Getting past both of them to win a tournament is looking more and more impossible these days.
For Zverev, it’s a reminder of just how high the bar is set right now. Even when you’re playing great tennis – which he was against Shelton – you need everything to go right to beat these guys.
Feeling sick the day before your semi-final definitely doesn’t count as everything going right.
We’ll find out soon enough if Zverev can pull off what would be a pretty amazing upset. But right now, he’s probably more focused on just feeling human again.
