On Friday, the All England Club announced which participants are planned for this year's edition of the Wimbledon tournament.

As expected, there are no tennis professionals from Russia and Belarus on the so-called

entry list

because the London noble club excluded them because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

Thomas Klemm

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

On the list of participants, however, there is also the name of a star who, for better or for worse, has to be deleted.

On the night of his fatal semi-final against Rafael Nadal at the French Open, Alexander Zverev showed little hope of being able to get involved in the high point of the grass season and tennis year from June 27th.

"It looks like I have a very serious injury," said the best tennis player in Germany in a 49-second video message that was distributed by the organizer in Roland Garros on Saturday night.

The prospect of not being able to stand on the tennis court for the time being has visibly taken a toll on the 25-year-old from Hamburg.

"It was a very difficult moment for me on the pitch," said Zverev, looking back on the scenes that took place after three hours in front of 15,000 spectators on the Philippe-Chatrier court and millions in front of the screens.

After the German twisted his right ankle while chasing a ball, he lay on the ground in pain for several minutes and got tears in his eyes.

He had to leave the pitch in a wheelchair, returning on crutches to say goodbye to Nadal, the referee and the spectators.

"It was a fantastic match until what happened happened," said Zverev.

After the highly intense match against the French Open record winner Nadal, who will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud in his 14th final this Sunday, Zverev had to play after 3:13 hours at a score of 6: 7 (8:10 ), 6:6 give up.

After returning to Hamburg, according to Zverev's older brother Mischa, there should be a diagnosis of how badly the German was hit.

The moments were also bitter for Mischa Zverev.

After all, he not only acts as his brother's manager, but also commented live on the semi-finals at Eurosport.

He stepped in as an expert after Boris Becker was unable to start his usual job due to his imprisonment.

"Anything can happen, but something like that is just undeserved," said Mischa Zverevs in the microphone.

Nadal found the right words on the pitch: He believes that Zverev will not only win his long-awaited first Grand Slam tournament title, but some of them.

Alexander Zverev received a lot of sympathy from the entire sports scene.

"A cruel end to a sensational semi-final and a great tournament," wrote eyewitness Bastian Schweinsteiger on Twitter.

His wife Ana Ivanovic, who also followed Zverev's match to the bitter end in the Paris tennis stadium, wished the German "quick recovery".

Tennis legend and Eurosport expert Mats Wilander spoke of one of "the worst things I've seen": "Seeing Sascha lying on the court was heartbreaking." The German Tennis Association (DTB) immediately encouraged its best sporting representative: "Your day will come," tweeted the DTB.

in view of Zverev's longed-for first title in one of the four most important tennis tournaments.

The tragic scene on Friday, in the second set at 6:5 and 30:40 from Zverev's point of view, immediately reminded the tennis world of Michael Stich's misstep in Vienna in 1995. The 1991 Wimbledon winner also twisted his ankle badly at the time, he had to afterwards three and a half months off.

"When I came back, I won the first tournament straight away and injured myself again," said Stich on Sky.

At that time he would have used the forced break to work on his game.

He wishes the same for Zverev: "He's young and I hope he comes back stronger."

As sympathetic as the old and new colleagues were, the statistics are inexorable.

Alexander Zverev's last act at the Grand Slam tournament in Paris is written there: "Zverev loses the point due to a forced forehand error." Sports results can be so tough.

Especially if they only show half the truth.