There's a real buzz around the Chatrier Stadium.
Three hours of amazing tennis from both of these players.
Second set's so important for Sascha Zverev.
That's an incredible point.
And what a time to find it.
Just sublime from Zverev.
It was one of the biggest matches of my life,
maybe on the verge of winning my first Grand Slam,
then I'd be world number one.
Nadal yet to hold serve in this set.
Here's a chance for Zverev to take control of this match.
We were playing such an incredible match.
I was improving the longer the match went on,
but then what happened happens.
This does not look good.
Very tough to watch.
You break three ligaments in your foot,
it's not easy to come back from this.
All the work that I've been doing all my life,
I knew immediately that it was over.
And now I feel like I have unfinished business.
I'm Alexander Zverev. I'm the reserve driver for Mercedes.
And from next year on, I'll replace Lewis Hamilton.
Good? Okay.
I think you guys took wrong personalities to film the first season.
You should've been filming me.
That's just drama that is there.
He'll need a new racket.
Won't be used again.
Game, set, match, Zverev.
I'm a very passionate player.
I can't sit still.
I'm really impatient, but at the end of the day, it gets results.
I won the ATP finals twice.
I've won the gold medal, Olympics.
I have multiple Master Series titles.
I mean, I wasn't done yet, but thanks for the champagne. I mean...
I just needed to win one match, and then I would be world number one,
but then...
obviously, uh, the accident happened.
I caught the edge of my foot and my foot went over.
I broke three ligaments, had quite a lot of bone damage as well.
In that moment, I thought that's career-ending.
With a three ligament injury, you have to seriously consider surgery.
If you operate, I'll get back to 100%, like before, right?
That's the goal.
There's no guarantee, understand?
After the surgery, I couldn't walk.
My family and also my partner, Sophia, helped me a lot.
He couldn't do anything by himself.
He was really, really worried.
I always believed in him, always,
but I'm not really sure about this. If he's getting back to the level.
Yeah, it still hurts like crazy.
Uh-huh.
It's like somebody's putting a knife into my foot.
It's not the best feeling in the world, I'd say.
So in the first like really tough periods,
you feel maybe more sad.
You may be a bit more depressed as well.
You know, and in that moment, you question it.
Are you ever going to be healthy enough to be at your best again?
The injury was very bad.
For Sascha to really come back, it's like, you know, climbing the Mount Everest.
It's going to be tough, there's no guarantee that he'll get there.
I needed to stay positive.
I went to a rehab center. That's where the work really started,
trying to walk in a swimming pool.
Trying to just move my ankle again
and that's the process.
The longer it went on, the more impatient I was getting.
You want it to happen as quick as possible,
but it's not realistic after an injury like that.
There's still a bit of excess fluid behind the ankle.
- Sascha? - Okay, it's cool.
Fuck's sake.
I definitely do not feel better, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
I'm happy that I'm actually running 'cause at seven months, I wasn't.
I'm extremely happy with my recovery so far.
But the bigger picture is going back onto the court,
competing with the best in the world.
Hopefully, I can put myself in the same position again.
I need to stay healthy and find my form again.
I need to find my strength in my ankle again.
The French Open is in three months
and I need to be ready to play the best in the world.
Why do you take so many rackets?
Because there will be different tensions.
I understand. But you never use them.
Don't have that many strings.
I mean, nine rackets for one day, what is that?
Do you see when he moves to the backhand?
He really turns, like, look at the backhand now.
And on the forehand, he is on the right leg.
- And he tries to push with the right leg... - Yeah.
He's not pushing forward, he's pushing up.
And like this, he doesn't have the same power.
He loses it.
Kinetic chain of power is lost.
Watching Sascha, I'm not sure if he could really play well on a very high level.
When you have an injury, when your ligaments are torn,
one day you could be playing Center Court, Wimbledon,
the next day you have no career anymore.
You see players in the past, they struggle to come back,
or they never come back.
And when you see Sascha, it's the same fear.
It just flies out of control.
Forget today.
A disaster how I was hitting them back earlier.
So you have to keep working on it. It's not a big deal.
It's okay, it's not that bad.
The toughest part
is while I was not able to play, the tour went on.
And my biggest competitors, they're winning a lot of tournaments.
Medvedev. The maestro
makes it three in a row on the ATP Tour.
He cannot stop winning right now.
Big Foe against one of the all-time greats
comes up with an historic win.
Alcaraz is back.
The seventh title of his career.
It's difficult for me to watch the top guys winning tournaments.
So I'm going to play in Monaco because one, I live there,
and second, it's just good preparation for the French Open.
I feel like now the season really starts for me.
- What am I wearing? - Huh?
What am I wearing?
- Suit. - Which one?
- This one. - What is it?
- The front of it... - No.
You know...
Ironically, he has more clothes than me.
Usually, the man is always waiting for the woman, right?
What do you mean? I'm German and I have a Swiss watch on me.
How can I not be on time?
Oh, my goodness, he's always late in every situation,
and I'm losing my mind.
If we get married, at one point,
I don't know, maybe yes, maybe not,
he'll probably come late to his own wedding.
Let's go, let's go.
Come on, come on.
Well, we say in Germany, true love starts with five carat.
How are you? Pretty well?
Nice to see you, my friend.
- Happy to see you. - How's everything?
- Very good. - Good.
So we create a beautiful necklace for Sascha.
He will use it and then we'll be able to sell
and all the profit will be for your foundation.
Yeah, basically, I created a foundation last year.
Um, I have been a diabetic since I'm three years old.
And, um, yeah, I've decided to take a big step to go public with this.
I've always been very careful, always never really talked about it much,
and yeah, last year while I was injured,
while I had not much to do anyways,
we decided to create a foundation
to help, uh, kids and people all over the world with diabetes.
The moment I started to walk, I walked around with a tennis racket,
but a lot of doctors said
professional sports or sport on this level is impossible with diabetes.
They said it is not possible to perform on a high level physically
for four or five hours in a row if you are diabetic.
I'm somebody that if someone tells me it is not possible,
I'm trying to do exactly the opposite.
Diabetes is an illness where sometimes your sugar goes low,
sometimes your sugar goes high, so then you might have to inject yourself.
When he's nervous, the sugar goes really up,
so sometimes when he's in a weird mood, sometimes I know,
"Checked your sugar?"
"Is it possible that your sugar is a little low, honey?"
I can take care of myself, of course.
I can play for six hours in heat.
I can keep playing when already I'm completely dead.
I'll fight till the very last moment.
So if I can do it, anybody can do it.
I'll see you. I will see you next week. At tennis?
- At the tennis for sure. - Perfect. See you there.
Then you'll be stressed.
Me? Hopefully not so much. That means I'm winning.
For sure.
Monte-Carlo, another lovely day in the principality,
just as it was yesterday.
Should be a really good day's tennis in store.
Bravo Nole.
Yeah, I know it, of course.
You're so big.
Coming up today, Alexander Zverev taking his first steps
back onto a clay court since that injury at Roland Garros last year.
Zverev up against Daniil Medvedev for the 14th time in their careers.
Know each other very well, do these two.
Look. Medvedev is one of the best players in the world.
He's a player that probably has the most confidence out of anybody right now.
He's barely lost a match this year.
But I also think that a lot of things that Medvedev does are frustrating at times.
He's somebody that knows how to play with the head of the opponent.
I think there's always a lot of unfair things happening in the game
that he uses quite well to his advantage.
Whoa! He went for the underarm there.
Oh, my goodness.
Bro, are you stupid?
Look at me! I'm talking to you!
You are a... How can I call it?
Small cat.
He's got a love-hate relationship with the crowd at times.
Daniil Medvedev dances his way into the quarter-finals.
A few more boos from the New Yorkers.
The more you do this, the more I will win, for you guys.
Thank you.
Whether it's, you know, talking to the crowd,
talking to a chair umpire,
he uses the whole stadium as a tool to win a match.
That's why he's very tough to play.
Hello, hello.
Ça va?
Nice to meet you.
Daniil. This is the team.
Hello, everyone.
Team, this is Daniil.
So we have to try the new map for next season.
So is everyone competitive? Everyone is going to try to win?
Yeah, I definitely will.
I am Daniil Medvedev.
As a professional tennis player,
I like to have this sense of competition all the time in my life.
And so outside of tennis, I play computer games.
It's completely the same thing in terms of competitive spirit.
Every game I play to win.
Thanks, guys.
Merci, merci.
Medvedev has the best run of the year thus far.
He is the biggest threat on the tour from that generation of players.
There was a period in time
it was thought it could be Zverev in the same position.
Yeah, it's been a great year as I say, especially with some great results.
But this, in tennis, can change so fast because you get injured for ten weeks,
you don't play good for ten weeks
and straight away the other guys are right there.
Catering is in the black cooler. Can I get you anything right now?
All good.
We'll get going. Welcome aboard.
I don't think I played against anyone more than against Sascha,
but we can't be like best friends. It's impossible.
Too much competition.
He has Olympic games. I have a Grand Slam.
I do think Grand Slam is still a bigger title even if Olympic Games is amazing.
We have been rivals for ten years.
On the court, we want to still win and destroy each other.
I'm very competitive. Always want to win, always.
Zverev looking for his first top five win since the ankle injury.
What a big win this would be for his comeback.
This is my chance to show that I'm back.
I need one big win. I need one result to break free.
I know I can do it.
Good start here from Zverev.
Ankle injury seems an age ago.
Very nicely finished off from Alexander Zverev.
Takes the opening set.
He's playing so well against Medvedev.
Physically he's definitely back on that level.
This could be a big moment for him.
It's really smart tennis pushing Medvedev back.
He's really struggling at the moment is Medvedev, there's been one-way traffic.
So, Alexander Zverev one game away from tomorrow's quarter-finals.
Sascha, come on!
Sascha's playing well, he is relaxed.
And he's focusing on himself
but I can see that Medvedev is getting desperate so he has to do something.
Give me that.
Fat tuber.
What's he doing?
He took out the stick from the net, this is unsportsmanlike conduct.
Maybe a few mind games there from Medvedev.
Everything is better, it didn't break. That's okay.
- Why did he do this? - I don't know.
To piss off Sascha,
- make him come out of his focus zone. - Yeah.
It's all about the strategy. You have to constantly search ways to win.
Come on, Sascha! Come on.
That action distracts you.
You know, you're focusing on closing out the match and all of a sudden,
imagine like a green elephant walks across the court.
It'll be like, "What is that green elephant doing here?"
You have to say like, "I need to be focused on what's happening,"
but we're humans, we get distracted
and Medvedev knows how to draw energy from that.
Take your time, eh?
I like to win and lose by playing tennis.
I'm not somebody that try to do kind of dirty games
just to put your opponent off.
That's not how I was taught the game.
Thank you. The players are ready, please.
Out!
Right on the line, Daniil.
No, it was right on the line.
I don't know which one, I just heard.
Sorry. No, no. This one was the call before.
Daniil.
Does play the part of the villain pretty well.
A way to focus again.
Let's go.
Quite amazing turnaround.
Medvedev back to win the second set...
We are going to a third and final set.
Sascha, don't focus about the other person, what he's doing,
he's complaining loudly or if he's pulling out the stick,
if he's pulling out the net, this is about you.
Focus on your match.
Out of nowhere. Alexander Zverev breaks.
And for the second time in this match, he will now serve for it.
You have to come up with something new sometimes
to surprise your opponent tactically, you try to win, no matter what.
Medvedev.
Medvedev's racing off to the toilet, I think.
He's got to make sure he's back in time
for Zverev to serve next.
Come on, Sascha!
There was things that started to get into my head.
Taking sticks out of the nets,
toilet breaks when there's no toilet breaks.
I'm definitely getting more and more frustrated the longer the match goes on.
Time.
Taking the mickey a little bit now.
Unbelievable.
Fucking hell.
He get into his head.
Zverev looks like a different player.
8-7, Medvedev.
And Medvedev now,
after saving two match points, has a look at his first.
Let's go!
Come on. Come on!
- Come on, Sascha. - Come on!
Let's go! Come on!
Game, set, match, Medvedev.
Medvedev comes through.
Not a lot of love between the two of them.
But Medvedev prevails.
I lost all respect for the guy.
Yeah.
And that is going to sting if you're Alexander Zverev.
You cannot blame Medvedev for doing these kind of tricks.
Sascha's injury was fully healed.
But the self-confidence wasn't there to finish that match.
His mental state began a little bit... to break.
It was just painful to finish a match like that.
This is not how it's supposed to go.
This is not how it's supposed to be because I did all the work,
I did all the right things. I was disciplined.
I felt like that moment of breakthrough, that moment of having that one result
and being back to your true self, it just slipped away.
I just don't understand why I just can't get it over the line.
I'm having goosebumps
remembering the last time we were at the French together.
Yeah, last time we were there, it was, uh...
I don't know how to explain it.
It was shit. It was very, very shit.
Is that a good enough explanation?
No?
Summarizes it a little bit.
Paris is my main focus, but I am maybe scared in a way
because in tennis, injury can always happen.
There's definitely a feeling that, you know,
it's maybe going to happen again.
We will see what it is like once I step on that court.
Big news from the world of tennis,
22-time Grand Slam Champion Rafa Nadal has pulled out of the French Open
because of a hip injury that he suffered at the Australian Open in January.
Roland Garros without Rafa
is like a French bakery without croissants.
Is this the most wide open French Open
we've had of the last 20 years?
Yes, for sure.
It's a great opportunity for me
but I also think that Djokovic will do some damage.
Alcaraz is on a whole different level.
And obviously Medvedev, he's playing his best tennis,
so it's all about who wants it more.
Alexander Zverev. How does it feel to be back at the place
where you had that terrible injury last year?
Thanks for reminding me of this. Great first question. Um...
I mean, I think I talked about it plenty, to be honest, but, yeah, I mean,
it's nice to be back because it's definitely a tournament
that I marked on my calendar and I really wanted to play here.
I think patience was the thing that I had to learn because
when you come back from an injury like that,
you're not gonna play your best immediately.
Medvedev in trouble.
From the world number 172,
Thiago Seyboth Wild serving for the match.
An upset of epic proportions.
...two sets.
The world number two gone in round one.
Well done. That's ballsy.
Medvedev is one of the best players in the world,
so it helps not playing him at an early stage.
But at the same time, I do believe in karma.
I do believe that if you wish bad upon someone,
then the bad is going to come back to you.
Daniil Medvedev has fallen by the wayside.
One player we haven't lost is Alexander Zverev.
We're just a couple of minutes away from seeing him against Alex Molcan.
Zverev trying to put the heartbreak of 12 months ago behind him,
when he rolled the ankle against Rafael Nadal.
It's going to be a little nerve-racking for Sascha,
just to walk out onto this court.
I am excited and maybe scared
to be back in the place where everything happened.
Just to see the spot where I was injured.
Yeah, I am shitting my pants to go back on that court.
Alexander Zverev.
Stepping out on Chatrier, I'm nervous.
But at the same time, I'm so excited
because I can make new memories on that court again,
and I can leave everything in the past that I had to deal with.
I can break free.
Love-15.
It was perfect.
The next hour and a half, I enjoyed myself out there.
I am so much happier on the court than I was all year long.
I feel joy like this young kid that just wants to play tennis.
Merci.
Game, set and match, Zverev. Three sets-love. 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Very impressive from Zverev.
That was very good.
And it will be Frances Tiafoe, the number 12 seed
who lies in wait for Zverev in Round 3.
Hey, I did my part. I'm just saying I did my part.
I'm waiting for you. I did my part.
So let's roll!
Frances is one of the most talented guys on tour.
You talk about God given talent, that's what Frances is.
Let's go!
I'm putting my heart on the fucking line.
He wants to be the best
and he's one of the most dangerous opponents that you can play against.
Glorious from Tiafoe.
If I win those kind of matches, I can say I'm back.
What is this order?
- It's California. But California... - Where?
Very good question. That's called...
This is a California roll.
California only with cheese.
You'd like this with spice?
After you got injured,
you thought you were going to be in this position
as fast as you were right now, or no?
Normally, when you get an injury...
After you get injured, you have so many thoughts like at the beginning, I thought,
- I'm done. I thought my career is done. - I remember that.
Obviously, I was crying because I had pain as well, and I was screaming quite a lot,
but, my main thought is,
there's no way in hell I'm going to play tennis on that level again.
That was my main thought.
So it's step by step.
But you're feeling good?
I feel like I can win the tournament, actually, because I feel like I'm playing
really, really decent tennis.
I've never felt like I wanted to win at a place more than there right now.
So, we'll see what it is.
Gonna be a good one tonight.
I was super excited.
Soon as the draw came out, I was like, "I want to play Sascha."
I knew him since I was 11, so we get along well.
He loves himself, but I like him.
Paris, man.
One of the best cities in the world.
A place I plan on staying for a little bit.
I know I have to beat him.
I know his game, I can feel a lot of pressure on him.
I really want that win against him.
See y'all tonight.
Now what?
Ready for tonight, Wayne-o, or what?
I'm ready for it.
How do you beat him?
You're about to see tonight.
I'll bring some stuff out of the bag tonight for his ass.
Tiafoe is your next opponent.
Yeah.
I think it's gonna be a good one.
I haven't seen Big Foe too much on clay...
He started playing good again in Madrid, so, always dangerous.
Against Foe, you got to make it as least fun as possible. Simple as that.
Don't let him have fun.
He's trying to get you involved in all his games to stop you.
You can't let him do that.
Everybody's trying to get you involved in their own games.
Medvedev is trying it a different way.
Tiafoe is trying it with jokes and laughs and all that.
As long as you win it's fine.
Yeah, one more. Okay. Good.
I know he's gonna be, like, pretty defensive.
If the match goes long, maybe early, he's quite aggressive, but...
As the match goes long, he's gonna hang out, so...
Play as much as you can to his forehand.
I change direction to the forehand, make him beat me on that side.
I think you just need to compete.
Yeah, that's non-negotiable.
Compete like a dog and hang in there.
At the big tournaments, you play the big guys.
You're getting ready to play the best in the world.
Now, exactly a year after the injury
I'm back here again.
Was he nervous?
Yeah, he was okay.
Yeah?
In the warm-up we were for the entire time, the tension was up.
And he asked me one million times...
"Think I can play well tonight?"
"Think I am hitting better than last week?"
These questions after that, for 25 minutes.
Game, Tiafoe.
Real confidence from the start from Tiafoe.
Tiafoe breaks first in this opening set,
dictating the match at the moment.
Set point.
Tiafoe gratefully receives that double fault.
Foe's giving me no rhythm. He played the perfect first set.
I do get nervous at times. I do make mistakes,
but I know what I have to go through
and I always love a challenge.
30-15.
Stay sharp, keep your focus, play the center.
Play into the court.
- Game, set. - Yes!
What a way to break! Now he wants the crowd.
He's found a way into this second set.
Tiafoe thought the ball was long.
It's good, it's good.
He's asking for the umpire to come down
and check the ball mark.
Medvedev's style and type of play.
Oh, he's trying to cheat.
Gabas' response is, he just says it's in.
He doesn't need to come down.
Why are you there?
Why're you sitting there?
Why are you sitting there?
Please. Thank you.
I can't listen to Tiafoe.
He's trying to get me involved, so don't look at him.
Give him absolutely no reaction at all. Focus on yourself.
Zverev has three set points.
Very much game on here now on Chatrier.
Hit the ball straight at Zverev.
And Zverev gave him a look.
I know exactly what he's trying to do.
It doesn't get into my head. I can't let Foe have fun.
Two set points.
Fault!
Game, set, Zverev.
From a set down to lead Tiafoe
by two sets to one.
- We're going five, baby. - Huh?
We're going five sets.
I'm just letting you know.
I'm in control.
This is my moment. I have to close out the match.
- Come on! - Let's go!
- Come on! - Merci.
2-1.
Nothing he could do.
Zverev.
Let's go!
Come on, Sascha! Come on!
Out!
Game, set and match, Zverev.
3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6.
Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev!
Let's go! Come on!
Sascha, 12 months ago,
I remember sitting there and I heard your foot not doing so well.
Yeah. I mean, today marks exactly one year, so...
- Wow. - ...it's...
It's been definitely the hardest year of my life, that's for sure.
I love tennis more than anything in the world, so being away from that
and to have that taken away from me was very difficult,
but, um, I'm so happy to be back here.
I'm so happy to be playing these tough battles again on this beautiful court
in front of this beautiful crowd
and hopefully, I'm here to stay.
See you soon.
After all these months, after this crazy up and down,
if he's found the self-confidence he used to have, that's the biggest thing for me.
Then I am happy.
He's back to great matches against top players. I'm so proud of him.
If I look back at the journey that I had since the injury,
I am super happy with being where I am.
I'm back to being at the highest level of tennis.
That for me means everything.
And what does the future hold for Alexander Zverev?
That's a great question.
Let's see.
Running out of words for how well
Alexander Zverev moves around a tennis court.
First match point here, for Zverev.
It's the 20th ATP Tour title for Alexander Zverev.
And this one will mean so much,
as he does it in the place he was born,
the place he grew up, in Hamburg.
Winning. That's the only cure for when you lose your confidence.
It's almost like a first again, it's been such a long time,
as you said, 18 months,
and I'm just super happy right now.
You don't have those doubts anymore, and it's as simple as that.
For Jessie Pegula and Maria,
being a top ten player for a long time is not easy.
You're that close, you're ranked that high.
Even if it's just one trophy, that makes a big difference.
People say I don't deserve being one of the top players.
What the fuck was this?
At some point, it will click with you.
I'm 28. I need to win a tournament.
Know you wanna win a Super Bowl. I wanna win a Grand Slam.
Trying to be great is fucking hard.
It's long.
I need to win a tournament,
and if I screw that up, that's another chance blown.
Fucking opportunity fucking out the door, man.
People want to criticize me. Yeah, fuck them all.
Two former number threes squaring off.
I guess it's now or never.
Who's gonna deliver?