“It’s funny, I feel very alone out there at times. I struggle mentally. I’ve been saying that since after the Australian Open,” he said.
“I’m trying to find ways, trying to find ways to kind of get out of this hole. I keep kind of finding myself back in it in a way.
“I feel, generally speaking, quite alone in life at the moment, which is a feeling that is not very nice.”
Asked if he would consider therapy to cure his issues, Zverev said: “Maybe for the first time in my life I’ll probably need it.
“I’ve been through a lot of difficulties. I’ve been through a lot of difficulties in the media. I’ve been through a lot of difficulties in life generally.
“I’ve never felt this empty before. Just lacking joy, just lacking joy in everything that I do. It’s not necessarily about tennis. Just lacking joy outside of tennis, as well.
“Even when I’m winning, even when I’m winning like in Stuttgart or Halle, it’s not necessarily, like, a feeling that I used to get where I was happy, over the moon, I felt motivated to keep going.
“It’s just not there right now for me, which, again, is the first time in my life which I’m feeling it.”
Zverev, who reached the Australian Open final in January, endured his latest Wimbledon flop in a tie that initially started on Monday evening.
When play was halted due to Wimbledon’s 2200 GMT curfew, the match was level at one set all.
But Rinderknech seized his chance once play resumed in the blazing London heat.
Rinderknech hit 25 aces and although Zverev replied with 31 of his own, it was not enough to stave off an embarrassing defeat.
Zverev has failed to make it past the fourth round at Wimbledon in nine visits to the grass-court major.
He had reached at least the second round in his previous 20 Grand Slam appearances.
Last year, a German court dropped a case against Zverev concerning allegations he assaulted his ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea after a settlement was agreed.
In January 2023, the ATP, which runs the men’s tennis tour, closed an investigation into allegations of domestic abuse against Zverev involving a female tennis player after finding insufficient evidence.
The ATP had opened the probe in 2021 following allegations made by his former girlfriend, Olya Sharypova.
First round upsets
American second seed Coco Gauff headlined a long list of seeded players to join Zverev in making an early exit at Wimbledon, after the French Open champion was beaten 7-6 (3), 6-1 by Ukrainian world No 42 Dayana Yastremska.
Yastremska powered to victory in 78 minutes, with Gauff joining third seed Jessica Pegula, fifth seed Zheng Qinwen and ninth seed Paula Badosa as high-profile departures from the tournament
Other seeded players to be knocked out in the first round of the women’s tournament included Jelena Ostapenko (20), Magdalena Fręch (25) Marta Kostyuk (26), Magda Linette (27), and McCartney Kessler (32).
In the men’s draw, third seed Zverev one of several seeds to be knocked out. That list included Lorenzo Musetti (7), Holger Rune (8), Daniil Medvedev (9), Francisco Cerúndolo (16), Ugo Humbert (18), Alexei Popyrin (20), Denis Shapovalov (27), Alexander Bublik (28), Alex Michelsen (30), Tallon Griekspoor (31) and Matteo Berrettini (32).
No 24 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire from his first-round match in the second set due to injury.
- with NZ Herald
