(Tennis news) German world number 3 Alexander Zverev has undergone surgery on torn ligaments in his right ankle after being forced to retire in the French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal last week. The 25 year old twisted his ankle at the end of the second set and began yelling in pain with Nadal and the Roland Garros staff rushing to his aid. He emerged on court 25 minutes later on crutches to inform the umpire that he would not be able to continue.

Since then, Zverev has undergone surgery and there is no potential timeframe for his return. Writing on Instagram, Zverev said: "We all have our own journey in life. This is part of mine. Next week I'll reach a career high ranking of number 2 in the world, but this morning I had to undergo surgery. After further examination in Germany, we received confirmation that all three of the lateral ligaments in my right ankle were torn.

"To return to competition as quickly as possible, to ensure all the ligaments heal properly, and to reclaim full stability in my ankle, surgery was the best choice. My rehab starts now and I'll do everything to come back stronger than ever! I am continuing to receive so many messages and would like to thank everyone once again for supporting me during such a difficult time." Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Zverev’s brother Mischa said that the 25 year old’s involvement at Wimbledon was “out of question” with the tournament beginning on June 27th. 

Rafael Nadal sent his best wishes to Zverev on Friday by saying “Only thing that I can say is I hope he's not too bad. Hopefully it's just the normal thing when you turn your ankle, and hopefully [nothing is broken]. That's what everybody hopes, and I was with Sascha, [it] looks that they need to keep checking. I think he started the match amazingly. I know how much [this] means to him, to fight to win his first Grand Slam. We are colleagues, we have been practicing together a lot of times. And see a colleague on the tour like this, even if for me it's a dream to be in the final of Roland Garros, of course that way is not the way that we want it to be. Feels very sorry for, if you are human, you should feel very sorry for a colleague."

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