"We got struck by lightning, had to do emergency landing" - Alexander Zverev reveals scary experience while flying for French Open

Alexander Zverev shared a frightening experience from his journey to Paris for the 2025 French Open, revealing that his plane was struck by lightning mid-flight. He said the incident forced an emergency landing at a different location before he could eventually make it safely to the French capital.

Before arriving in Paris for the French Open, Zverev competed at the Hamburg Open, where he received strong support from the home crowd. However, things didn’t go as planned for him. He suffered a tough loss in the Round of 16 to France’s Alexandre Muller, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(5). After the match, Zverev revealed he had been severely ill, throwing up “37 times” and battling a high fever, which affected his performance.

But it looks like World No. 3 has recovered just in time. He attended a press conference at Roland Garros and revealed that he, along with Brandon Nakashima, Jiri Lehecka, and a few doubles players, were flying out of Hamburg when their plane was struck by lightning.

The situation forced an emergency landing back in Hamburg. Eventually, Alexander Zverev managed to find another flight around midnight and reached Paris at 3 a.m.

"We were supposed to fly yesterday evening at 6.45 pm and we took off from Hamburg. We were flying with Lehecka, Nakashima and some doubles players, and we got struck by lightning, funny enough. So we had to do an emergency landing back in Hamburg, couldn't find another plane," he said.

He added:

"I took another plane around 1 am, and arrived in Paris around 3 am. First time experience got struck by lightning midair, which is funny. It was a little noise, no real wobbling, nothing. So that was my trip over here."

Zverev is set to begin his French Open campaign against American teenager Learner Tien on May 25.