World No. 3 Alexander Zverev experienced an unnecessary deja vo at Wimbledon on Tuesday, losing in the opening round for the second time in his career at London’s All-England Lawn Tennis Club. Zverev held SEVE to force SEVE in the fourth set to win before Rinderknech responded with the biggest closeouts of career 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
Lindernek, who hadn’t lost his serves throughout the game, lost 18 of the 25 games he played in 2025, with the 72nd ranked player doing his best in grass. He has a 2-16 career against top 10 opponents and is the only victory that will come against America’s Ben Shelton earlier this year.
Zverev made a bad mistake beyond the baseline with a pass shot of serve 40-30 in the third game of the fifth set, breaking two points by Rinderknech after lifting shorts with a two-handed backhand try.
Rinderknech easily got his serve with a 3-1 advantage in the final set. A few games later, Rinderknech’s Monster Forehand finished Zverev in the fifth game eighth of the game with a 5-3 lead.
Zverev barely got the racket on Rinderknech’s proper return as the Wimbledon crowd cheered the underdogs loudly before the switch. With match point number 3, 5-4, Rinderknech scored the victory with the winner. Rinderknech previously won the match to win a tiebreaker forehanded errors from Zverev to open a fourth set of tiebreaks, including SWAT, who sailed widely by hitting netcodes.
However, the 6-foot-6 German was not complete. 4-3 on the tiebreaker, Rinderknech forced a backhand and failed to keep his opponent in the match with the forehand after a long run from Zverev. Zverev scored a rally on his next serve before tying a tiebreak with five and taking a one-point lead with an ace that traveled 136 mph.
Rinderknech lost a set of serves when the drop shot landed on the net, pushing the match up to five sets.
Zverev said he was beginning to feel more comfortable on the surface of Wimbledon before the match.
“I didn’t particularly like grass before, but I feel like I’ve played well on the surface over the last few years. I especially felt like I played the best tennis at Wimbledon last year, but unfortunately I was injured in the third round with Cam Norry.” “I hope this year doesn’t make a difference and hopefully I won’t get hurt. See how far I can go and what I can do at this point.”
Zverev, who won the best finish at Wimbledon, features three four-round appearances, denounced the weather for inconsistent plays when he lost France’s Open Quarter Finals loss to Novak Djokovic earlier this summer.
Zverev never won a Grand Slam and lost three times in each final, including the 2025 Australia Open. Zverev is 35-14 in this year’s singles match.
