News : London: Zverev lays open to Wimbledon-out, causing him to fail

"A person I thought was my friend, with whom I worked for years, is doing everything to harm me," said World Ranking Fifth on Monday in London. "You can not imagine what's happening right now, what's going on is abysmal, I'm very angry about it."

After his surprising 6: 4, 3: 6, 2: 6, 5: 7 against the Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely Zverev was in a hurry and asked himself about 20 minutes later the questions. "The last two days have been tough for me, I do not want to go into details, but I have to fix that," said the Hamburger, who is in litigation with his longtime manager.

All seven German starters retired on the opening day

At 17:43 local time number six had the set list with his first first round off the debacle for the German Tennis Association on the opening day of Rasenklassikers completed. All seven German starters on the opening day of the season's third Grand Slam tournament - five men and two women - dropped out.

For Zverev, the most famous tennis tournament is over before it really starts. The 22-year-old had prepared for a difficult first round match and Vesely confirmed his assessment. At first, everything went as planned for the 1.98-meter Schlaks from Hamburg, which lives in Monte Carlo. However, watched by his coach Ivan Lendl, Zverev lost his line with the loss in the second set.

Zverev: "My self-confidence is just below zero"

When point loss to the match ball of the constant playing last year's first knockout Vesely he slipped and flopped on the lawn. After 2:31 hours, a backhand volley into the net suddenly ended all his ambitions. Sobering, the German number one stuffed the Wimbledon towel into the tennis bag. "My self-esteem is just under zero, I did not win much this year," the winner of the ATP Finals admitted, "I could have won this match."

Zverev seemed to have shaken off his first medium-sized earnings crisis at the end of the clay court season, he had his knee exhaustion from the tournament in Halle Westphalia cured in his own words in time for the height of the grass season.

Defeat fits into a very mixed season so far

The loss to Vesely, however, fit into the ups and downs in a season so far mixed by the German number one and so does not fit into the stringent career plan of the French Open quarter-finalists. Davis Cup team principal Michael Kohlmann had even given him the semi-final debut this time at the grass classic. "I've always said that this year's US Open is the Grand Slam tournament where I want to make my breakthrough," said Zverev, announcing that he had nothing to do with tennis: "I'll be back for a few days free - somewhere where nobody can find me. "

Even before, the first match day on the famous tennis facility was sobering. Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Serbian defending champion Novak Djokovic 3: 6, 5: 7, 3: 6. For Mona Barthel, Anna-Lena Friedsam, Peter Gojowczyk, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Mischa Zverev the special Wimbledon feeling was soon history again. Apart from Zverev, no one ever managed to win a sentence.