Alexander Zverev has been slowly coming back to his old self on the tour. He has shown improvement in the past six months. Zverev has now completed a decade of participation at the grand slams. He is currently playing at the Australian Open and has spent almost 17 hours on the court in five matches. Zverev needed medical attention in his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz.

The German player was asked about his body condition during the on-court interview with Jim Courier. Zverev spoke about his painful pre-match routine. He said, “I have a lot of bl.o.od under my toenails, it’s quite painful. I pump it out before every match, but when you run a lot, the calluses come back.” Zverev felt that the pain was better than being injured and staying at home.

The No.6 is one of the quickest players on tour, even though he has had a medical condition since childhood. Zverev was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was four years old. Since then, he has been taking insulin shots and taking them during his matches. This season, Zverev has so far only lost one match while capturing nine wins.

Alexander Zverev avenges US Open defeat at Melbourne

The 2023 US Open quarterfinal saw Alcaraz defeating Zverev in straight sets. This time, the battle stage was the same, but Zverev came out on top in four sets. The Spaniard staged a late comeback in the third set but could not pull it off in the next set. Zverev reached his second semifinal in Melbourne and seventh overall at the Grand Slams.

The 26-year-old now has five wins in eight matches against Alcaraz. Zverev’s serve was on fire as he won 73 percent of his first serves. He was regularly serving above 124 miles per hour. While Alcaraz hit 45 unforced errors, Zverev only had 25 free points to give. The No.2 could not get ahead in long and short rallies as Zverev kept returning the ball and was dominating the show.

A Big Win 👏

Alexander Zverev defeats Alcaraz to reach his second #AusOpen

Semi-Final! pic.twitter.com/t8PqJhFxgk

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 24, 2024

The 2020 US Open runner-up will next face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinal. The pair will play for the 19th time on tour as Medvedev leads the head-to-head with 11 victories. Even though they have played each other so many times on the tour, this will be their first meeting at a grand slam. Zverev will need more bandages in his legs against the Russian.