"I was not able to walk really for two months": Zverev left astonished at Nadal and Federer's mindset after own injury struggles

Alexander Zverev gained a new level of respect towards Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and the way they handled their injuries after suffering a major injury himself.

Zverev completely broke his ankle at Roland Garros missing the rest of 2022 because of it. It was a tough injury and one that Zverev struggled with as he was unable to walk for a good amount following the injury. As an athlete, it was very tough for him but he gained a new perspective on how some of the legends dealt with their many injuries:

"Rafa and Roger [Federer] are different. They come back from injury and they start winning tournaments immediately. I don't know how they do that. But they've been doing it for 20 years now. I needed time but I think also my injury was maybe a little bit different. I was not able to walk really for two months. You have to learn your movements again, you have to learn how to walk again, you have to learn how to run again."

Zverev will make his return on clay in Monte-Carlo and it's going to be interesting. He hasn't played on the surface since the injury and it took some time to get used to:

"This year, maybe it was a bit different. I still had to get the injury and the accident out of my head in a way to be able to really feel comfortable sliding again and really feel comfortable moving again on the clay court. But I feel like that's going to go with time and I feel like the more matches I'm playing on the surface, the better it's going to be and I also have to remember the good memories I had on this surface."