After his quarter-finals in singles on his comeback on the tennis tour, Olympic champion Alexander Zverev lost his first doubles appearance.

With the former Austrian US Open winner Dominic Thiem, the 25-year-old from Hamburg lost 3: 6, 6: 7 (3: 7) at the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia against the Italian professional Matteo Berrettini and the Russian Andrei Rubljow .

The show event was Zverev's first official appearance since the semifinals at the French Open, when he suffered a serious foot injury against Spanish top star Rafael Nadal in Paris in early June. In singles in Saudi Arabia, Zverev won two match tiebreaks against Thiem on Thursday before he was beaten by the Russian Daniil Medvedev 0: 6, 4: 6.

From December 19th to 24th, Zverev wants to gather more match practice for participation in the Australian Open at the World Tennis League in Dubai. At the turn of the year, the top German player will be in the United Cup in Australia, where he will play in a team with Germany's currently best player, Jule Niemeier, among others. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the new season, starts on January 16th.