"Not a robot": Zverev leaves Vienna start open – Djokovic takes Basel wild card
After his Shanghai exit Zverev calls a break "urgently needed". Djokovic chases a Turin ticket in Basel, while Hanfmann loses his opener in Brussels.
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Alexander Zverev has spoken of exhaustion after his semi-final defeat in Shanghai to eventual champion Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (7-5, 4-6, 3-6). "I'm not a robot, I'm a human – I just get tired," the French Open and US Open champion said, according to dpa. "I think a break is now urgently needed." He said he had only one day off after the US Open. The world No. 2 left open whether he will play the indoor event in Vienna (26 October to 1 November). Still on his schedule are the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup with Germany in Bologna.
Vienna is already without defending champion Jannik Sinner: his team announced in early October that the Italian will not compete again this season because of knee inflammation. Meanwhile Novak Djokovic has accepted a wild card for the Swiss Indoors in Basel, held the same week, the ATP said – the 39-year-old's first appearance there since 2011. He has a 12-2 record at the event and won it in 2009, beating Roger Federer in the final. Before the end of the Shanghai tournament the Serbian was 11th in the race to the ATP Finals and is aiming to qualify for a 17th time.
The week started mixed for the German players: Yannick Hanfmann (No. 59) lost his Brussels opener to American Martin Damm 5-7, 3-6. Jan-Lennard Struff faces Marcos Giron there on Tuesday, while Daniel Altmaier plays Titouan Droguet in Lyon. Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov is No. 123 in the current rankings.