Confirmed what imagined: the number 2 in the world of ATP, Alexander Zverev announced on Monday that he will not play the US Opensince he has not yet fully recovered from the serious ankle injury that forced him to retire from the Roland Garros semifinals against Rafael Nadal last May 23.

The organizers, through the official Twitter account of the tournament, communicated the news with a short message: “Alexander Zverev has retired from the US Open. Get well soon, Alex!”, says the tweet. Then they added that “the 2020 finalist suffered an injury at Roland Garros” and released a statement detailing his situation.

The German, who He suffered three ligament tears in his right ankle.was operated on June 7 and, according to what he himself declared at a press conference, hopes to return to the ring for the Davis Cup group stage to be held in Hamburg from 13-18 September.

sasha He was on the American Grand Slam Entry List, but this Monday, four days before the draw, he was forced to resign. After his discharge, Stefan Kozlov entered the main draw, the organizers reported in that same press release.

In this way, the winner of five Masters 1000 and Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021 says goodbye to his aspirations to reach number 1 in the world, at least in the short term. Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas will compete for the top of the world rankings in New York.

What will happen to Novak Djokovic?

“I’m preparing as if I could compete, while I wait to find out if there is room to travel to the United States. Fingers crossed!”public Novak Djokovic through his Instagram account, accompanied by a video in which he can be seen training against the background of the track.

Firm in his position not to get vaccinated, the Serbian wants to play the USEOpen, but the truth is that a week before the tournament starts, his presence is a real mystery. The competition authorities have informed that they will not require players to submit vaccination certificates, but at the same time stressed that they will respect the decisions of the national government.

The recent Wimbledon champion It is on the pre-enrollment list despite the fact that, at this moment, the regulations prevent access to non-citizens who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Eventually, at this point the most concrete possibility is that Djokovic, who have not been allowed to play the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, nor in Canada without prior quarantine, don’t play in New York. In any case, no official announcement has yet been given on the matter and the changes to health regulations open a glimmer of hope.