'Man, sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself': Alexander Zverev's classy advice to injured opponent Francisco Cerundolo

Alexander Zverev had some classy words for his colleague Francisco Cerundolo after he retired with an injury in the middle of their match at the Canadian Open. The world No. 3 advanced to the quarterfinals, capitalizing on the physical problems of the Argentine, who retired shortly after the second set began.

It was a challenging match for Zverev, against an opponent who had beaten him in all three of their previous encounters. Days earlier, Sascha revealed in an interview with Nothing Major that Cerundolo is one of the most "annoying" rivals for him to face, admitting that he had not yet found a way to beat him.

Toronto became the setting for a rematch this Saturday, where Zverev had to recover from a break down in the first set. Cerundolo took an early lead, going up 3-1, but soon after, the physical issues began for the Argentine. Cerundolo had taken the court with kinesiology tape on his abs, and by the fifth game, he received physiotherapy treatment in a medical timeout.

Cerundolo retires, Zverev's sportsmanship shines

Cerundolo had started the match in great form, but little by little his level dropped as the physical discomfort appeared. After the world No. 24 took a 3-1 lead, Zverev won six of the next seven games. Cerundolo was unable to serve with acceleration due to the pain and also couldn't comfortably hit his forehand, arguably the biggest weapon in the Argentine's game.

During a changeover at 5-4—as Zverev was getting ready to serve for the set—the German was seen talking to Cerundolo, who was clearly struggling. The German consoled his colleague before winning the set 6-4. Cerundolo started the second set but, clearly hampered on his serve, ended up retiring once Sascha got the break. "I'm sorry, I cannot play," Cerundolo can be heard telling the umpire as he walked to the net to greet his colleague, and the two parted with a warm embrace.

"He's an incredible player, he's an incredible person. I have a very close and good relationship with him," Zverev commented after the match concluded with a score of 6-4, 1-0, giving him a spot in the quarterfinals. "I saw that he’s extremely upset at five-four, and of course, I know that [with] an abdominal injury, you can’t serve, you can’t really accelerate on your forehand, and there’s nothing much you can do."

"So I saw that, you know, he almost had tears in his eyes and I wanted to just talk to him and he said that the only reason he wants to keep playing is for the people," the three-time Grand Slam finalist added. "I told him, look, man, sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself, because, you know, an abdominal injury can go very quickly from a few days to a few months, and I definitely don’t want to see him out for a few months."

"I definitely want to see him on tour and do well because he’s having an incredible season. I have so much respect for him. He’s an incredible guy. He beat me three times before that, and I don’t have a single bad word to say about him," Zverev concluded.