"I feel like I can play pretty freely now": Zverev admits injury is improving week after week on return

Alexander Zverev doesn't have many concerns right now after his ankle feels better and better with every week with the German declaring himself able to play freely.

Zverev's first weeks on the Tour were a bit unsure because he was testing how his ankle is responding. It's pretty clear that he had reservations and some anxiety about how things are going to go but after a few weeks, it's clear to him that he can play free right now. He's in Doha where he'll play both singles and doubles.

It wasn't always so bright because a few months ago Zverev suffered a setback which was tough to deal with:

“At that moment I thought I would maybe already be able to play, and then they told me, ‘No, it’s going to take another two, three months again. That was, for me, a little bit tough mentally. I packed my bags and went on holiday. I didn’t do any rehab or anything like that again.”

Up until recently, Zverev would still occasionally get pain from his foot but it's all good now. He declared himself capable of playing freely:

“I don’t have it in the back of my mind. A few weeks ago I used to still get signals from my foot. I used to, once in a while, still get pain. But it is in the right direction, and I feel like I can play pretty freely now. I felt that way in Rotterdam. I thought I played a lot better in Rotterdam than I did the previous weeks, even though I lost second round, but I lost second round to, in my opinion, a very good player who played well that week.”

Zvere concluded with:

“Obviously I’m looking forward to next few weeks, and hopefully it still gets progressively better in the right direction."