Alexander Zverev was seen taking an injection during the men’s Wimbledon final clash against Jannik Sinner as he looks to win the tournament for the very first time.
Having won the first set 7-6, Zverev was leading the second set 3-2 when he sat down on a courtside chair, at the switch of ends, and unveiled a medical pouch. He took out an insulin pen and injected it into his leg before resuming the match.
The French Open champion was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four and the injection was a dose of insulin to manage his glucose levels both on and off court. His diagnosis is also the reason he can also use a phone during matches despite a ban on players doing so.
That is due to a medical exemption so that he can track his glucose monitor on his phone instead of using constant finger-prick checks which is quite common for people with diabetes.
An interview with BBC Sport in the build-up to the Wimbledon final saw Zverev talk about the reasons behind his phone use the German explaining “that’s why the umpires allow me to check my phone, so I don’t have to poke my finger every changeover”.
Tennis Grand Slam tournaments have a list of players that are diabetic and those players are permitted to use their phones during matches in order to monitor their glucose and inject insulin if needed.
Noting Zverev’s need to balance his blood sugar levels, Andre Agassi and Andrew Castle addressed his medical condition on BBC’s coverage of the match.
“As if there’s not enough to worry about out there in a grand slam final,” said Agassi while on commentary duty. “He doesn’t claim victim when it comes to his diabetes. It’s not a subject he cares to discuss a whole lot but at the same time he holds his head up high and goes about his work daily.”
Castle added: “It’s quite inspirational that he’s able to handle that aspect of his health and still produce this level of physical performances.”
Yet despite the close monitoring of his condition, Zverev has previously had issues on court.
A malfunctioning glucose sensor left him feeling unwell during a match against Taylor Fritz in June’s Halle Open as the French Open champion injected a higher dose of insulin than he required.
On that occassion, Zverev lost 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 and explained the problem he’d had with his glucose monitor after the match.
He said: “I had huge problems with the sugar because the sensor I use gave me a completely incorrect reading. It indicated very high values when they were actually low, so I injected much more insulin than I should have.
“During the match, or rather during the first 45 minutes, I had to consume about 350 grams of sugar. I felt absolutely terrible.
“This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’ve been using these sensors since 2016 or 2017, and in nine years, I had never seen such a big error.”
