German star Alexander Zverev admits he's short of practice and low on confidence heading into the Australian Open.
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Zverev slumped to his third defeat from three matches at the ATP Cup in Brisbane on Tuesday, with the world No.7 left in a serving crisis less than two weeks before the start of the opening grand slam of the year.
The 22-year-old served up seven double-faults in his 6-2 6-2 defeat to Canada's Denis Shapovalov at Pat Rafter Arena.
It means across his three matches in Brisbane, Zverev recorded 31 double faults from 31 service games.
Zverev said an off-season exhibition tour in South America alongside Swiss great Roger Federer had left him behind in his preparations for Melbourne Park.
"I had like five days less than I normally have ... I didn't practice a lot of tennis," he said.
"I think you can see that on the tennis court."
Germany's 2-1 loss to the Canadians confirmed the Europeans' exit from the tournament and leaves Zverev with no more matches until the opening round of the Open.
A player who has long been touted for great things, Zverev's grand slam record is largely unimpressive.
His two best performances have been quarter-finals at the past two French Opens, while last year's fourth-round exit was his best performance at an Australian Open.
The former junior world No.1 concedes he has a lot to get right on the practice court if he's to better that effort this year.
"Generally I'm not playing good, so there's a lot of things that I still need to improve, but it's the start of the season," he said, admitting his confidence was "not really that high".
"Usually at the Hopman Cup when I play always played bad as well.
"But this is unfortunate, this is a more competitive event, I think.
Australian Associated Press
