Last year, German tennis player Alexander Zverev made the final of the French Open. This year, Zverev will have to see if lightning strikes twice — figuratively speaking.
Zverev told reporters during French Open media availability Friday his plane to Paris was literally struck by lightning and was forced to turn around.
“We were supposed to fly yesterday evening at 6:45 p.m., and we took off from Hamburg,” Zverev said, via the Associated Press. “We got struck by lightning. We had to do an emergency landing back in Hamburg.”
The unexpected shock resulted in him arriving in France hours later than expected. The 28-year-old German switched planes at around 1 a.m. and didn’t get to Paris until around 3 a.m. He was able to attend a practice session at Roland Garros on Friday.
Per Zverev, Czech player Jiri Lehecka and American Brandon Nakashima, the No. 28 seed, were also on the plane.
When describing the incident, Zverev said the lightning strike was largely uneventful, other than the travel delay.
“It made a little noise — no real wobbling or anything,” Zverev said. “It was a first-time experience.”
Zverev is seeded No. 3 at the French Open behind Italian Jannik Sinner and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. The German is coming off a tough loss in the Hamburg Open, falling to French player Alexandre Müller in a third-set tiebreaker in the Round of 16.
Zverev is set to play his first French match Sunday, going up against 19-year-old American Learner Tien — who beat Zverev in straight sets at the Mexican Open in Feburary — in the first round.
