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Watch: Olympic tennis champion Zverev mesmerised by Museum of the Future in Dubai
Zverev gets his Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign underway on Monday against the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka
Alexander Zverev visited the Museum of the Future on Saturday. — Dubai Duty Free Tennis
Olympic gold medallist Alexander Zverev enjoyed a glimpse of the future ahead of his participation at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The 25-year-old German, who reached as career-high World No.2 ranking on the ATP Tour last year, paid a visit to the emirate’s stunning Museum of the Future on Saturday, marvelling at the architecture, before entering a virtual time machine to fast-forward to 2071.
Touring what National Geographic recently named one of the world’s 14 most beautiful museums, the 2020 US Open finalist encountered a robodog, boarded a spacecraft called Hope – named after the UAE’s Mars orbiter – and stopped off at the DNA library, home to more than 2,400 different mammals, angiosperms, annelids, and molluscs.
“It’s very nice. The architecture is not something you see every day, but I think the things inside are even more interesting than the architecture,” said Zverev, looking up at the museum’s iconic exterior, designed in the shape of Arabic calligraphy.
“Of course, it’s been voted one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and there’s a reason for that – its special.”
Zverev gets his Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign underway on Monday against the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka.
Zverev slumped out of the Australian Open in the second round at the hands of American Michael Mmoh.
The 25-year-old's 2022 season lasted until the semifinal of the French Open against Rafael Nadal, when he suffered an ankle injury that would sideline him for months.
A bone edema kept him off the court for the remainder of the season and he arrived in Australia with a realistic view about his chances of going deep in the year's first Grand Slam.
Zverev, runner up at the 2020 US Open and number two in the world last year, said he had fully recovered from his injuries but still had a way to go to get back to full fitness.
"My foot is healthy, but I'm not at the physical level that I was," he said.
"I'm not as fast. Definitely my conditioning is not as good as it was. So I think I still have a long way to go to there."
The German will now hope to get his new tennis season back on track with a memorable performance in Dubai.
Grab your seats
Tickets for the 31st Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships are on sale at dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com, starting from Dh55.
Tickets are also available at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium Box Office between 9am and 9pm daily. The ATP Tour 500 tournament runs from February 27 to March 4.
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
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