French Open champion Alexander Zverev has revealed that a faulty glucose monitoring device left him feeling severely ill during his Halle Open semi-final defeat against Taylor Fritz on Saturday.
Zverev dropped the match 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 in a contest that stretched two hours and 39 minutes. The loss continued a difficult recent stretch against the American, with Zverev having dropped their previous six head-to-head matchups.
Speaking after the match, the world number three explained what went wrong with his health. “I had huge problems with the sugar because the sensor I use gave me a completely incorrect reading. It indicated very high values when they were actually low, so I injected much more insulin than I should have,” he said.
“During the match, or rather during the first 45 minutes, I had to consume about 350 grams of sugar. I felt absolutely terrible,” Zverev added.
Even so, the German star was quick to give credit where it was due. “Nevertheless, I fought, gave it my all, and in the end, it must also be acknowledged that Taylor (Fritz) deserved the win. He played better than me today.”
Zverev was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four and relies on Medtronic technology to help manage his glucose levels both on and off the tennis court.
He noted that this kind of malfunction was completely unprecedented in his experience. “This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’ve been using these sensors since 2016 or 2017, and in nine years, I had never seen such a big error,” he said.
Zverev also made clear that the incident would not affect his preparation for Wimbledon, which is scheduled to run from June 29 to July 12.
