Alexander Zverev pulls pin on World Tennis Challenge event hours before match against Borna Coric citing hamstring injury

Alexander Zverev has withdrawn from the World Tennis Challenge just hours before he was set to take the court citing a hamstring injury, in a further blow to the Adelaide event and in a potential blow to his Australian Open hopes.

• Glamour girl Bouchard answers SOS call
• Stosur out-of-the-box Open preparation
• Happy slam still player’s favourite

World No. 4 Alexander Zverev has withdrawn from the World Tennis Challenge with a hamstring injury just hours before he was set to take the court, in a further blow to SA’s premier tennis event and in a potential hit to his Australian Open campaign.

The German drawcard addressed the Memorial Drive crowd on Monday evening after signing autographs and said he injured a hamstring during a two-hour training session.

Fernando Verdasco was set to take his place in his Monday night showcase against Borna Coric.

World Tennis Challenge general manager David Hearne gave no reason for Zverev’s withdrawal but said organisers were disappointed.

“We know that he was excited to play in Adelaide and Verdasco will now replace him tonight,” he said.

Henri Leconte with Alexander Zverev at the launch of the 2019 World Tennis Challenge at Memorial Drive on Monday. Zverev later withdrew from the event. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

It is the second withdrawal in as many days for the event, which could be in its last year as a result of upcoming changes to the tennis calendar.

American talent Coco Vandeweghe withdrew on Sunday after damaging her ankle at the Hawaii Open last week, with Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard parachuted in at the last minute to replace her for matches on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Earlier, Zverev told media he was in no hurry to see the older players such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal disappear anytime soon, despite his cheeky comments in the wake of the Hopman Cup loss to the Swiss star.

“I know Roger well. We all enjoy having him around, it’s not like you want him to leave as quickly as possible,” the 21-year-old said.

The new tranche of highly-ranked youngers includes the player he was meant to front at Memorial Drive on Monday night, Croatia’s world No. 12 Borna Coric.

“Its great to see tennis will be in good hands, as the other guys get older obviously tennis will change and we can rely on the young players,” Zverev said.

“Roger and Rafa are the two greatest of all time maybe so it’s hard to let go of that, it’s a natural change of tennis. After Sampras and Agassis retired it was the same thing, people were saying ‘who’s going to be next’ then those guys came along, it’s always going to be like that. It’s going to be an exciting time for the young guys.”

Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev pose with Hopman Cup winners, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer at RAC Arena in Perth. Pictures: Will Russell/Getty Images

Coric was looking forward to some match practice for the Australian Open after a short preseason.

“My pre season hasn’t been much, I have had only two weeks to prepare,” the 22-year-old Croatian who has not played a competitive match since helping his country overcome France in the Davis Cup final in late November.

“I came here very early, to Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, here on Saturday,” Coric said. “I didn’t have much time to prepare after the Davis Cup. It’s very important for me to play these two matches (in Adelaide) because I have not played any matches (recently) and I am looking forward to playing. It’s going to be good fun and I will try some new things I have been working on in last few weeks.”

Coric welcomed the pending changes to the Davis Cup which will see the 118-year-old inter country competition revert to a 16 team, one venue final (in Madrid) this year.

“I think it’s good for the players to be honest. My perspective is that I was playing seven weeks extra this year through the Davis Cup. It’s going to save me lots of time but I am going to miss some of the home ties, that was something special.

“Not to play in Croatia before 10,000 people with that kind of atmosphere (it brings), that was special and I am going to miss that. There are good sides and bad sides and we just need to see how it is going to go.”

He said the players in general are not confused by the upcoming changes to the world tennis calendar which also sees the introduction of the 24 nation, $22 million. ATP (World) Cup in January 2020. The new tournament will be hosted in Sydney and Brisbane with a third capital city to be confirmed soon it was announced on Monday.

“I think it's going to be good preparation also for Melbourne, I am just looking forward to that,”Coric said.

Originally published as Alexander Zverev pulls pin on World Tennis Challenge event hours before match against Borna Coric citing hamstring injury