Revealed: Alexander Zverev's glamorous girlfriend did NOT join him at Wimbledon after World No 3 admitted he felt 'alone' and 'empty' before shock first-round exit
The number-three seed has struggled for form in the wake of the Australian Open final he played against eventual champion Jannik Sinner in January.
But the German star arrived in SW19 was a bullish assertion that he was one of the strongest players in the draw ahead of an anticipated deep run.
Instead, Zverev fell in five gritty sets to the Frenchman with the final score 7-6 (3), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, their contest played across two days after their match on Monday night was paused due to the Wimbledon curfew.
After the match, the 29-year-old was open about how 'lonely' he was feeling, not just on court, but in life.
As per German outlet BILD, Zverev's defeat came while Thomalla, an influencer and television presenter, was reportedly filming commercials in their native country.
Thomalla last accompanied him to his pre-Wimbledon tune-up tournament in Halle, where Zverev reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by Daniil Medvedev.
The 35-year-old began dating the world No3 in 2021, and Thomalla has accompanied the player to a number of Grand Slam tournaments during their globe-trotting relationship.
Thomalla found herself the focus of advice given to the German No1 by his compatriot Boris Becker after his defeat at Roland-Garros last month, as he called upon the burnt-out player to take some time away from the sport to fix his mental game.
'Father (Alexander Snr, former player and his coach) wanted to play all the time, brother (Misha, another former player) too.
'And Sascha has to learn to put an end to it, to go on vacation, spend time with his daughter, his girlfriend Sophia (Thomalla), to get away from tennis.
'Otherwise, it will burn out, it will become "ballaballa".'
'Ballaballa' is a largely untranslatable German phrase which suggests a nonsensical plan, and felt apt for Zverev's feelings of hopelessness after his defeat to Rinderknech.
'I feel very alone out there at times. I struggle mentally,' Zverev shared. 'I've been saying that since after the Australian Open. I'm trying to find ways, trying to find ways to kind of get out of this hole. I keep kind of finding myself back in it in a way.
In the wake of his loss to Rinderknech, Zverev admitted that he was considering talk therapy
'I feel, generally speaking, quite alone in life at the moment, which is a feeling that is not very nice.
'It's not a feeling on a tennis court, it's just a life feeling in general,' he continued. 'As I said, I never felt this way before. It's difficult to find joy outside the tennis court for me at the moment.
'It's not an excuse or anything. I think Arthur deserved to win today. It's nothing that. It's something I've felt for the past few months.
Again, I just feel generally very, very alone and very lonely. I don't know. Just never felt that way before.
I don't have the answers right now.
When asked if he had considered therapy, he added: 'Maybe for the first time in my life I'll probably need it.
'I've been through a lot of difficulties. I've been through a lot of difficulties in the media. I've been through a lot of difficulties in life generally.
'I've never felt this empty before. Just lacking joy, just lacking joy in everything that I do. It's not necessarily about tennis. Just lacking joy outside of tennis, as well.
'Even when I'm winning, even when I'm winning like in Stuttgart or Halle, it's not necessarily a feeling that I used to get where I was happy, over the moon, I felt motivated to keep going.
'It's just not there right now for me, which, again, is the first time in my life which I'm feeling.'
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