Multiple Grand Slam winner left ‘bemused’ by what Alexander Zverev did in his shock first round exit at Wimbledon

Alexander Zverev was among the high-profile upsets in the first round of Wimbledon, having lost his opener to Arthur Rinderknech.

Zverev practised with Novak Djokovic ahead of Wimbledon, with the duo quickly going on to experience very different opening matches.

ATP number three Zverev was the third seed at Wimbledon, but he suffered a shock 6-7(3-7), 7-6(10-8), 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 4-6 loss against Rinderknech.

Djokovic meanwhile battled it out with another Frenchman, Alexandre Muller, who he beat 6-1, 6-7(7-9), 6-2, 6-2.

But Zverev wasn’t the only major name to suffer a huge upset, with fellow top 10 seeds Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev all losing.

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Mark Woodforde ‘bemused’ by what Alexander Zverev did in shock Wimbledon loss

On hand to share his verdict on three-time Grand Slam finalist Zverev in particular was Mark Woodforde, who won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles during his career.

He said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra: “He gets involved in these long matches early in the slams and it takes so much out of him.

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“I am a big believer that he has the weapons to win majors and we just haven’t seen it. He is using his weapons to defend rather than attack – the winners of the majors are the ones who play proactively.

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“Hopefully this is a kick in the pants to start making subtle changes. I am bemused that he is standing that far back on the baseline on grass.”

Alexander Zverev’s history at Wimbledon after huge upset

Zverev will be hugely disappointed with his latest Grand Slam efforts, which come after a quarter-final exit at the French Open.

He fell to Djokovic in Paris, having beaten the Serbian in this year’s Australian Open semi-final before losing the final to Jannik Sinner.

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That was his third such defeat, with Zverev also losing the 2020 US Open and 2024 French Open final to Dominic Thiem and Carlos Alcaraz respectively.

At 28, Zverev boasts a superb 24 ATP Tour titles, one of which arrived on the clay courts of Munich this season.

But whether or not he still has the game to really challenge at the highest level is now up for debate, with his Grand Slam hopes having now potentially passed him by.

Zverev, of course, won’t be thinking that, but he will need to spend some time analysing exactly where he went wrong at Wimbledon.

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2R 3R 4R 3R 1R N/A 4R N/A 3R 4R 1R Alexander Zverev Wimbledon history

It was a tricky first round tie, but nonetheless one the former world number two would have been confident of winning.

That said, Wimbledon represents his worst Grand Slam, with Zverev having only ever reached round four compared to finals in the other three events.

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