Australian Open: No emotion in sports without fans says Alexander Zverev after second-round win

Seb SternikSeb Sternik19 January 2022
Alexander Zverev of Germany reacts after winning the Men's Singles second round match against John Millman of Australia at Australian Open in Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan.

Alexander Zverev of Germany reacts after winning the Men's Singles second round match against John Millman of Australia at Australian Open in Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan.

The German comfortably sealed his place in the third round of the Australian Open in front of a rowdy crowd at the Rod Laver Arena.

The third seed only dropped eight games and finished the job in under two hours as he beat John Millman 6-4 6-4 6-0.
Zverev, who also won his opening match in straight sets, will now take on Moldova's Radu Albot in the third round.

The 24-year-old was pleased with his performance saying: "It was good, happy to beat John the way I did. For me he is always a tricky opponent, so I'm happy to have only lost eight games. I feel like in the third set, for me, was at a very high level."

Millman, who is Australian, had the backing of the home crowd but that didn't appear to effect Zverev who thrived on the atmosphere.

In his post-match interview with Dylan Alcott - an Australian wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis legend - Zverev underlined the importance of having a live crowd.

He said: "I've said in the past two years since Covid started that sports needs the atmosphere, sports needs the people, whether you are for me or against me, I enjoy the atmosphere, I enjoy the noise, I enjoy being on court.

"I think spectators… spectators bring the emotions and sports without spectators is like sports without emotion so I think it's incredible that we're going back to normal and it's incredible to play in front of everybody."
Alcott, who is a four Olympic gold medals to his name, asked Zverev about his triumph in Tokyo and how it compares to any other tournament.
The world number three said: "There's nothing compared to a gold medal, there's nothing compared to the Olympics.
"I'm standing here on centre court of the Australian Open, I love you guys but a gold medal is something that every athlete dreams about, doesn't matter what sport you're coming from, it doesn't matter what background you're coming from.
"A gold medal is just something very special and there's nothing in the world that compares with it."

READ MORE: Naomi Osaka on second round win, positive mentality and ‘surreal’ Andy Murray tweet

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