Davis Cup Finals: Zverev again waives

Lack of preparation

Alexander Zverev will not compete in the Davis Cup Finals for the second time in a row. The Olympic champion from Hamburg announced on Sunday via social media that he would have to cancel due to lack of preparation. "After consulting with my team, I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from this year's Davis Cup Finals," Zverev wrote on Instagram. "I am not yet where I want to be physically and I feel like I need more time to get back to my best.".

The competition starts in a few days

The Davis Cup Finals will take place from September 14th to 18th in Bologna, Italy. The German team starts on Wednesday against France, at the beginning of July Zverev had already missed the games in Hamburg against Switzerland and Belgium. Despite Zverev's renewed absence, Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann has set a goal of reaching the semi-finals. "We will do everything we can to reach the semi-finals," said Kohlmann of the German Press Agency. "We have a strong team and we want to show what we are capable of.".

No. 1 in the world missing

At the beginning of June, Zverev had been operated on for a torn ligament in his right ankle. In July he made his comeback on the ATP tour, but has not yet achieved satisfactory results. The 25-year-old lost his opening match in Washington and also failed in Montreal and Cincinnati. In the ATP ranking, Zverev has now fallen back to number 15. Instead of Zverev, Oscar Otte, Daniel Altmaier, Jan-Lennard Struff, Andreas Mies and Tim Pütz will play for Germany in Bologna.