Why Wimbledon finalist Alexander Zverev can check his phone during matches
Wimbledon finalist Alexander Zverev is allowed to check his phone during matches because of a medical condition.
The French Open winner will face Jannik Sinner in the 2026 men’s final on Centre Court, aiming for his second Grand Slam title.
Zverev, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, has won 25 ATP Tour singles titles and earned a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He was the youngest player to enter the top 20 since Novak Djokovic and has made great achievements despite living with Type 1 diabetes.
Zverev was diagnosed when he was just three years old and shared his condition publicly in 2022. He needs to take insulin regularly during tournaments.
At the 2023 French Open, there was a big controversy because he wasn’t allowed to inject insulin on the court.
The International Diabetes Federation strongly criticized this, and it was later confirmed he could do so.
Thanks to new technology, the 29-year-old can now check his blood sugar levels on his phone during matches and will do this during breaks at Wimbledon.
“Luckily, managing diabetes has become easier with new tech,” he told the BBC in a recent interview.
“I carry two phones. One is on court without a SIM card and I have it with me during the game. That’s why umpires let me check it, so I don’t have to prick my finger every time.
Sometimes the signal isn’t fast enough, so then I have to test my finger.”
Playing such tough tennis causes changes in his blood sugar, so insulin is very important for him.
He uses a glucose sensor to check his insulin needs, but last month in the Terra Wortmann Open semifinals against Taylor Fritz, the sensor gave a wrong reading for the first time.
Zverev took too much insulin, which hurt his performance. He said it felt like drinking “three and a half litres of Coca-Cola.”
“My sensor showed a completely wrong blood sugar value,” he told reporters after the match.
“So I took too much insulin and had to eat nearly 350 grams of sugar. I felt really bad.
“Last time I played Taylor, he was just better. Today, I think my tennis was good, but I couldn’t show it physically.
“I’ve been using this sensor since 2016, and this was the first wrong reading. I had to eat lots of glucose gels during the match to keep my sugar up.
“It’s like drinking three and a half litres of Coke during a match—you wouldn’t feel well either. But I had no choice or I’d have gone into hypoglycemia.”
Back home in Germany, Zverev runs a diabetes foundation to help young people with the same condition.