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Alexander Zverev suffered an early exit at the 2023 BMW Open in Munich, losing to Christopher O’Connell on Thursday. O’Connell defeated Zverev 7-6(2), 6-4 in one hour and 58 minutes to progress to the quarterfinals, where he will meet Flavio Cobolli, who defeated Oscar Otte 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.
Zverev, who won the trophy in Munich in 2017 and 2018, has now made an opening-round exit on home soil for the second successive season. He lost 6-3, 6-2 to eventual champion Holger Rune in 2022.
Speaking after his defeat against O’Connell, Zverev stated that lately he has found it hard to cope with the pressure when playing in Germany.
"In the last few years, I've had a hard time coping with the pressure of playing in Germany. I'm incredibly nervous. I don't show anywhere near the level in the match that I show in training," he said. (via Süddeutsche Zeitung)
The 26-year-old further stated that being nervous leads to a domino effect that ends with him not playing at his best. He also said that the pressure on him to perform was purely "internal."
"When I'm nervous, I don't play so hard. I move slower. I play slower. That's a combination of things," he said. "I put the pressure on myself. It doesn't come from outside."
In the last two years, Zverev's exit at the BMW Open was followed by good performances at the Madrid Open.
In 2021, having exited the tournament in Germany in the quarterfinals, Zverev emerged victorious in Spain, defeating Matteo Berrettini in the final to clinch the Masters 1000 title. Last year he almost repeated the feat, but was beaten in the Madrid final by Carlos Alcaraz.
While Zverev hasn't given any thought to his next tournament just yet, he remains hopeful of performing well in Madrid for the third consecutive year.
"Right now I don't feel like doing anything. Hopefully it will be like every year. I lose the first round here and I win Madrid," he said.
A stop-start 2023 for Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev has had a season to forget so far, registering a 10-11 win-loss record.
The German began the year with defeats to Jiri Lehecka and Taylor Fritz at the inaugural United Cup. Later, at the Australian Open, he defeated Juan Pablo Varillas before losing to Michael Mmoh in the Round of 64.
After exiting the Rotterdam Open in the Round of 16 and the Qatar Open in the first round, Zverev registered his best result of 2023 at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where he reached the semifinals, losing to Andrey Rublev.
While he wasn't at his best in his last three Masters 1000 tournaments — Indian Wells Masters (3R), Miami Open (2R), and Monte-Carlo Masters (3R), the 26-year-old will be hoping to turn his season around at the Madrid Open, which gets underway on April 26.
