Zverev's last hurdle before Australian Open: 0 - 3

“I’m not playing good, so there’s a lot of things that I still need to improve, but it’s the start of the season.” Zverev assured during his press conference, after losing 6-2, 6-2 against Canada's Denis Shapovalov. His serve let him down: he only managed to convert 7 out of 24 serves into points.

“Usually at the Hopman Cup when I play I always played bad as well. But this is unfortunate,this is a more competitive event, I think.’
“The first match [against Alex de Minaur] I actually thought I played okay - the serving was horrible - but then I played two very bad matches, but what can I do,” he said, downplaying his current form.

During the months of November and December, Zverev joined Roger Federer on an exibition match-tour in South-America and China, which didn't help his preparation for this season: “I had like five days less than I normally have.” He commented on his off-season.
“I didn’t practice a lot of tennis. I think you can see that on the tennis court.”

It is believed that - but not confirmed - when Zverev changed management to Team8 management last year, co-founded by Federer, he also agreed to this exibition tour in the off-season.

Germany is eliminated from the ATP Cup, winning just three of their nine matches. Despite his misfortunes, Zverev has hailed the new team event, which has been billed as a threat to the existence of the historic Davis Cup.

“The ATP Cup is good. Obviously it hasn’t been the best for me, but it’s fun, it’s a new event.” He concluded. “I like team competitions. I think it’s the first year I think it’s still going to improve every year that we will have it.”

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