Inside Zverev's decision to compete in South America

Alexander Zverev will be hoping his decision to embark on the South American clay-court swing picks up pace this week at the Rio Open presented by Claro.

The German would usually be honing his hard-court game during this period of the ATP Tour calendar. Yet Zverev, the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is embracing the South American clay early this year, where he will make his anticipated debut at the ATP 500 in Rio on Tuesday.

Runner-up at Roland Garros last year, where he fell to Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set battle, Zverev admitted that his decision to compete in Rio was to best equip himself for the French major.

“It’s one of the reasons I'm here,” said three-time major finalist Zverev in his pre-tournament press conference. “My main focuses are the Grand Slams and I want to compete for those. Roland Garros is always kind of marked on my calendar, and a little bit because I feel like I have great chances there. Hopefully I can prove it this year.

“I want to go on a clay court as soon as possible. I want to feel the court again. I wanted to play on it, and of course, get ready for the big tournaments coming up. Of course, we have two more Masters in the United States on hard courts. But after that, it's all clay, and I'm looking forward to that swing as well.”

In Rio, Zverev will be aiming to produce a strong response to his quarter-final exit at the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires last week, where he lost to the eventual runner up Francisco Cerundolo in three sets. The top seed has won eight of his 23 tour-level titles on clay, and remains confident that the dynamic conditions in Brazil will play in his favour.

“I really love when it's hot,” said Zverev, who faces Buyunchaokete on Tuesday. “When it's hot, it's much faster. The ball bounces maybe a bit higher, so that's better for me. So generally, the heat doesn't concern me too much. I actually prefer it. So far, I [have] felt good.

“Last night [Saturday] I wanted to have an easy practice. I ended up practising for three hours… So that doesn't usually work out for me, the easy practices. But as I said, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to start the tournament, and we'll see how it goes, but I expect for myself to play better than I did in Buenos Aires and hopefully win the title.”