Alexander Zverev feels that Grigor Dimitrov is "too beautiful for the tennis circuit." Other ATP players seconded Zverev's opinion, and named Dimitrov as the 'biggest flirt' on the tour.
Dimitrov, Zverev and others were part of the draw at the 2023 ABN AMRO Open, which is currently underway in Rotterdam, Netherlands. There have been a number of upsets so far in the ATP 500 event.
A wrist injury forced World No. 9 Holger Rune to retire mid-match against 160th-ranked Gijs Brouwer in the second round. And Zverev, the World No. 17, fell to 61st-ranked Tallon Griekspoor in the second round.
Second seed Andrey Rublev also perished in the opening round, against Alex de Minaur. Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, on the other hand, lost to Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the second round.
Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Stan Wawrinka, Dimitrov, de Minaur, Brouwer, and Griekspoor have all reached the quarterfinals.
Amid all the tennis action, a fun off-court video was made public on the social media account of the ABN AMRO Open earlier today (February 17). A bunch of participants from the draw were asked to name the player on the tour who they thought was the biggest flirt, and Dimitrov was the unanimous pick.
The clip featured Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Rublev, Wawrinka, Zverev, and Dimitrov himself.
Here's what each of the players said in response to the question "Who is the biggest flirt on tour?"
Zverev: Flirt? Grigor. He wins it, every day. He's too beautiful for this tennis circuit.
Auger-Aliassime: Biggest flirt? Grigor?
Hubert: Grigor.
Rublev: Grigor, I think.
Wawrinka: Normally, I would say maybe Grigor.
Dimitrov, on his part, pretended to be shocked at learning that everyone had chosen him.
"No. All of the guys said that? I don't know what gave that impression," Dimitrov said, tongue firmly in cheek.
"Every match for me is very important right now" - Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev suffered a gruesome ankle injury during the 2022 French Open semifinals against Rafael Nadal last June. The German tore all three of the lateral ligaments in his right ankle, and picked up another major bone injury during the recovery.
After a couple of exhibition tournaments in December, Zverev returned to the tour at the 2023 Australian Open. Michael Mmoh, however, eliminated him in the second round.
The 2020 Olympic gold medalist defeated South Korea's Soon-woo Kwon in the first round of the 2023 ABN AMRO Open. After that match, he stated that he was looking forward to getting back his confidence.
"Every match for me is very important right now and obviously playing against very high-level players and having wins against them I think is very important for my confidence as well," Alexander Zverev said. "We'll see how this week goes, but I'm definitely excited for just every match that I'm going to play here."
Zverev lost to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in the second round.