Olympic champion Zverev optimistic despite knee injury ahead of Paris

German tennis star Alexander Zverev remains hopeful that the knee injury he sustained at Wimbledon won’t hinder his chances of winning gold at the upcoming Paris Olympics, though he admits it’s not yet fully healed. The reigning Olympic champion injured his knee during a third-round victory over Cameron Norrie at the All England Club and played his fourth-round match against Taylor Fritz on “one leg.”

Despite his injury, Zverev competed in his home-city event in Hamburg last week, reaching the final before losing to Arthur Fils. The 27-year-old described his injury as a bone edema and torn capsule, which does not require surgery.

“To be honest, the risk will stay for the next two, three, four weeks maybe because that’s how long the bone heals, and that’s what everybody told me,” Zverev said. “But, at the end of the day I also knew that I don’t want to rest for four weeks because now we’re playing on the surface where I don’t see that big of a risk of doing the same motion again and doing the same movement again.”

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Zverev, who won the gold medal by defeating Karen Khachanov in Tokyo, is also on the shortlist of German athletes who could be flag bearers for the nation during the opening ceremony on Friday.

“If someone told me that I should walk in as a flag bearer, it would mean even more to me, to be honest, than winning the Olympics,” Zverev said. “Leading an entire nation and so many top German athletes into the Olympics is simply the greatest honor an athlete can receive. And of course, the gold medal I won at the last Olympics is one of the highest achievements you can have in sports and for me personally, the greatest success in my career.”