Alexander Zverev is ready to return to action after a sensational run to the Wimbledon final. He is participating in the National Bank Open, a tournament where he reached the semifinals last year. But it won’t be wrong to say that the German has opted for a surprising way to train for the tournament in Montreal.

Turns out Zverev met up with ice tennis star Rob Worling ahead of the tournament. The two practiced on a mixed-surface court, with Zverev’s side being a hard court and Worling playing on an ice court.

Though ice tennis is not a sanctioned sport, Worling is among the players who have helped popularize it, having played an ice tennis exhibition at Wimbledon a couple of years ago.

Zverev appeared to be having fun while training with Worling. Aside from this, Zverev is likely to be participating in intensive training sessions of his own as he prepares for the National Bank Open.

Having not played at the DC Open, the 29-year-old will begin his hard-court season in Montreal. With the likes of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic being absent from the tournament, headed instead to the Cincinnati Open starting August 13, Zverev will be the top seed of the competition. It will also be a golden opportunity for him to win his second title at the National Bank Open.

Notably, the German had previously won the title in the 2017 season, defeating his idol Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Zverev has been on a roll since his triumph at the French Open in June, where he’s now the reigning champion. He followed that up with a run to the semifinals at the Terra Wortmann Open before reaching his maiden SW19 final.

Now he has the chance of beginning his hard-court season on a high as well. The National Bank Open is a tournament where Zverev has a great record. He has a win-loss record of 16-6 and has reached the quarterfinals on three occasions. He achieved his second-best result at the event last year by making it to the semifinals. He was defeated by Karen Khachanov 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 in a grueling encounter.

Despite getting a decent result at the tournament last year, Zverev went on to lose 360 points in the rankings because of a calendar shift this year. This is because the Canadian Open was shifted to a new date this year, and according to the 52-week ranking points system, his points expired a week before the event.

As a result, Zverev dropped down to No. 3 on the rankings but will now have the chance of gaining a massive number of points at the Canadian Open, as he can’t lose any even if he gets eliminated in the first round. That is why he can very well take the second place back from Carlos Alcaraz.

Alexander Zverev is expected to surpass Carlos Alcaraz again in the rankings later this month

Zverev is currently at the No. 3 spot with 8,120 points under his belt. He is just 40 points shy of Alcaraz’s tally of 8,160 points. He can overtake Alcaraz by reaching the third round of the Canadian Open, which will award him 65 points. But even if Zverev gets eliminated before that, he will still surpass Alcaraz’s tally later in the month

This is because Alcaraz has decided to withdraw from the Cincinnati Masters. Having won the title last year, the Spaniard will drop 1000 points because of his withdrawal. This will see Zverev overtake him for the second time this year, having previously taken the spot after reaching the Wimbledon final.

The Cincinnati Masters is another event where Zverev reached the semifinals last year. He had a solid run in the event, defeating players like Karen Khachanov and Ben Shelton. But Alcaraz proved to be too good for the German and defeated him 6-4, 6-3.

While Alcaraz won’t be playing in Cincinnati this year, Zverev will still find ample competition in the tournament as both Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic will be in the mix alongside the majority of the other top-10 players.

Zverev will kick off his campaign at the Canadian Open with the clash against Tallon Griekspoor. The clash will take place on the Centre Court on Wednesday. It remains to be seen if the World No. 3 will be able to begin his hard-court season on a positive note.