Zverev shakes off pain during Hamburg win

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a enjoyed a comfortable first-round win at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/hamburg/414/overview'Hamburg Open/a Wednesday but conceded that he continues to manage pain in his left knee resulting from a nasty fall at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a./p

pThe World No. 4, who overextended his knee during a slip and fall in a third-round win over a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/cameron-norrie/n771/overview'Cameron Norrie/a at the grass-court major, dropped just seven points on his first serve and did not face a break point in a 6-2, 6-2 win over a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jesper-de-jong/d0c1/overview'Jesper de Jong/a./p

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p"I was still unsure this morning if I was going to play or not and during the warm-up I was in quite a lot of pain," said Zverev, who has a bone edema and tear in the capsule of his knee. "But somehow when I step on this court it disappears a little bit when the adrenaline gets going. /p

p"I have an injury where I know where I stand and it will take time to heal. It won't heal in the next few days, it will take weeks and it's up to me if I am going to play like that or not."/p

pMaking a successful transition from his fourth-round run at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a to the clay on home soil in Germany, the defending champion collected his 41st match win of the season and improved to 12-1 in first-round outings this season./p

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