Alexander Zverev's mother Irina reveals her son's Diabetes diagnosis at first seemed like a simple illness, but after paying a visit to the doctor and receiving a painful diagnosis, they used to wake up three times a night to give little Alexander his insulin and keep his condition in check.
In 2022 August, the German tennis star revealed through an Instagram post that he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was just three. At the time, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist launched a foundation aimed to support Diabetic children.
Since then, Zverev has spoken several times about his condition. In one of his interviews, the three-time Grand Slam runner-up said that the early diagnosis wasn't the best and that he was told by the doctors that competing at the highest level with his condition wasn't possible. However, he refused to quit - beat the odds - and became one of the best players of his generation.
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Irina Zverev reveals what led to Alexander's diagnosis and how it changed their life
The week before the initial diagnosis he had a stomach flu and wasnt eating well and was drinking a lot. We went to the doctor and got the diagnosis right away. And we kept asking, When will he get better? Every time the answer was the same: never again. That was very frustrating for us, Irina Zvereva told Medtronic Diabetes Europe, Middle East, Africa.
Since Zverev was just three at the time, it wasn't easy to explain to him the severity of his condition and how important it was to do everything were instructed by the doctors.
Back then, we had to wake him up three times a night to measure and then give him his injections. But he always wanted to run around or jump on the trampoline instead of getting the injections... Parents have to do a lot with their children so that they can understand their body. My husband and I were fully involved. Until he was 12 years old, when he was still a boy, we had to get up three times a night," the German tennis star's mother added.
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In the same interview, Irina Zverev admitted that as a parent, it was "difficult" to accept that her son was diagnosed with a condition that couldn't be cured but only managed.
