Sawt Falasteen - Top seed Zverev ready to win again in Indian Wells

"It was a rough South American swing for me," the German said Wednesday as he prepared to launch his campaign at the combined ATP and WTA tournament in the California desert.

"I got ill two out of three weeks which isn't great. But I wanted to go on clay. I wanted to play that swing. I've heard so many great things about it, so I wanted to experience it once."

Zverev said he'd hoped to get a head start on his clay season preparations.

But he lost in the quarter-finals of clay court tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, then headed north and fell in the second round of the hard court tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, to US teenager Learner Tien.

In Buenos Aires he was stricken by food poisoning. He said he struggled to cope with the steamy conditions in Rio and he fell ill in Acapulco where "a lot of players got ill".

"I also didn't play great tennis," he said. "Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do in the end, especially after reaching the finals of the Australian Open, maybe should have stuck on hard court a little longer."

Now he's back for the first leg of the "Sunshine Double" of US hard court tournaments that will continue with the Miami Open.

He's seeded first, with Sinner sidelined by a belated three-months drugs ban, and said he feels fit and ready to contend.

"I still feel positive," he said. "I still think I had a good start to the season. If you look back at Australia, I reached another Grand Slam final. But of course, I want to find my rhythm again and I want to win tennis matches again.

"Right now I feel good," he added. "It took some time, but I feel well."

H.Nasr--SF-PST