Alexander Zverev told how he could have prevented horror French Open injury after surgery

Alexander Zverev has been told he could have prevented the severity of his freak French Open injury following his recent surgery. The world No 3 tore several ligaments in his ankle when he fell during his semi-final against Rafael Nadal but retired former world No 2 Tommy Haas has now told Zverev that he could have stopped the injury "ending so badly".

Zverev is currently rehabbing after undergoing surgery for tearing all lateral ligaments in his right ankle when he went down during his French Open semi-final and needed a wheelchair to leave the court. The 25-year-old could be heard crying out in pain in the distressing scenes and was taken off court before re-emerging on crutches to retire to Nadal.

The world No 3 then returned to Germany to have surgery and has been forced to withdraw from his home tournament in Halle next week while remaining in doubt to play Wimbledon. His compatriot, former pro Tommy Haas, has now weighed in on the injury and claimed that it could have been less severe.

The current tournament director of the Indian Wells Masters learned a lesson on preventing injuries after suffering a similar fate to Zverev at Wimbledon in 2005 and claimed that the 25-year-old wouldn't have suffered as much if he played with taping on his foot. "Of course nobody can know whether a tape would have prevented the injury, but one can say with some probability that it would not have ended so badly," Haas told Eurosport Germany.

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The former world No 2 stepped on a tennis ball in his opening match against Janko Tipsarevic, also injuring his ligament, and has relied on tape ever since. "That was extremely unfortunate. It was the first time this