Zverev, surprised in his debut on grass: "Rarely had I seen something like this"

Pedro de Pablos | 16 Jun 2026 | 21.22

Zverev, surprised in his grass court debut: "I had rarely seen anything like it". Source: Getty Images.

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Alexander Zverev has made his debut on the grass court tour after winning his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros 2026 with a tough match at ATP Halle against Vit Kopriva, who pushed him to the limit. In fact, the German tennis player admitted after the match that he had rarely seen someone play like that on grass, praising the talent of the Czech player.

Kopriva had already had a great clay court season, and his performance on grass has been no different. Zverev faced the pressure of having just recently achieved the first Grand Slam of his career, and at times he was overwhelmed by the good play of his opponent, who delivered one of the best matches of the year and came close to surprising 'Sascha' in front of his home crowd, a point highlighted in his post-match interview with Tennis TV.

"I am very grateful to play my first match as a Grand Slam champion at home, in Germany, but I don't think that affected me much. What I found most difficult was the change of surface and my opponent, who played incredibly today. His shots were outstanding, his serve was incredible, and his second serve returns on grass were something I had hardly seen before. I had rarely seen something like that," he acknowledged.

Zverev reveals how he approaches the start of the grass court season

Arguably, the transition from the clay court season to the grass court season is the toughest on the entire calendar, as you go from long rallies and resilience on clay to the chaos and unpredictability of grass. Therefore, the early matches are about getting a feel for it, something Zverev emphasized once he secured a spot in the next round of the tournament, where he will face his compatriot Yannick Hanfmann, who managed to defeat Joao Fonseca today.

"I am very pleased with the victory because it was a very tough match, where he was serving at 190 with his second serve and at times the return was even faster. For my first match on grass this season, it wasn't too bad. As the matches progress, I will play better and better. The first two matches on a new surface are always dangerous, but today I managed to capitalize on the few opportunities I had and that's why I won," he concluded.

However, it's important to remember that this grass court swing is an important task for Zverev, as he has never reached beyond the round of 16 at Wimbledon, so he will have to step up if he wants to achieve good results in the upcoming weeks. In fact, if he manages to go far in Halle and gets a great result at Wimbledon, he could even overtake Carlos Alcaraz for the number 2 ranking, who will not return until after the grass court season at the earliest.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Zverev, sorprendido en su debut en hierba: "Pocas veces había visto algo así"

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