He is probably the most famous diabetic athlete in the world right now - and he’s sponsored by minimed!
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That’s pretty awesome! It’s great to see a high profile diabetic athlete representing the community and showing what’s possible.
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I don’t know if anyone saw the final, but at a few points during the match Zverev injected something into his thigh related to diabetes. I was wondering what that might have been? It was intriguing because I would have thought that he would be more worried about going low, yet he was injecting something. Anybody have any ideas?
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Definitely insulin. Nobody would be injecting glucagon at that point.
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Glucagon?
Many athletes go high from stress, adrenaline, eating carbs, less insulin on board, etc. Totally expect it would have been insulin.
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From Gemini AI:
Yes, Alexander Zverev uses a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to manage his type 1 diabetes during tennis matches
How He Uses a CGM on Court
- Live tracking: His CGM sensor sends real-time blood sugar data via Bluetooth to a dedicated secondary phone that he keeps in his bag during matches. [1]
- Matchday access: Grand Slam tournaments grant Zverev a special medical exemption to check this phone during changeovers so he can monitor glucose trends without doing traditional finger-prick tests. [1, 2, 3]
- Insulin management: When his readings show a need for adjustment, he uses an insulin pen during changeovers rather than a pump, which could interfere with his physical movement on the court. [1, 2]
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Here is why I am confident it would not be glucagon.
Simplifying the steps, just to explain the process for energy and how it all relates to glucagon. Reading about the entire metabolic process for everything can make your eyes bleed, so this is a very simple breakdown of it.
Glycolysis is the process that breaks down glucose to produce energy, in the form of ATP and pyruvate.
So…what are pyruvate and ATP?
ATP is the main energy molecule inside our cells. Pyruvate is a three-carbon molecule, and while the process is complex, the simple answer is that pyruvate is also used to create energy.
How does all of this relate to glucgaon, and why are you saying he would not be taking glucagon?
From a pure energy perspective, glucagon is bad for performance because it inhibits glycolysis. Instead of letting your body generate immediate energy, glucagon forces your metabolism to run in reverse - it inhibits the pathway for the quickest energy source and leaves you reliant on slower pathways such as lipid metabolism. Glucagon increases gluconeogenesis, which is the process where you create glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. Glucagon causes rapid fatigue.
And glucagon does not create new energy for the body. Instead it drains your liver’s limited supply of glycogen (stored glucose).
It’s much better to take in carbs during exercise than to use the limited supply in your liver.
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I was thinking maybe he was heading low.
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That’s what I was thinking too.
But our expert panel here (and whatever I could find via AI) all feel that he is injecting insulin.
He’s wearing a CGM while he’s playing, and he has special dispensation to look at his CGM readings during changeovers.
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Wow, so impressive! Thanks for posting this. .y vote would be that he injected insulin, too. I will also sometimes go high during a run.
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An Unlimited Diabetic!
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I always love to hear about a type 1 athlete doing so well! And winning!!!
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@Marie Me too, you might want to get on Team Novo Nordisk to get some inspiring stories like this.
" Kate Brim is a six-time world champion and Paralympic gold medallist, and she refuses to let setbacks define her. A routine back surgery left her quadriplegic in 2017, and in 2021 she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We caught up with our ambassador right after she got home at 3am from the Paracycling Road World Championships, where she won both the time trial and the road race. Kate talks openly about managing her diabetes on and off the bike and about leaning on “the team behind the team.”"
I hope this link works
Whenever I’m feeling a little blue about diabetes etc a story like Kate’s just brightens the day.
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Not to be super negative, but as a tennis player with type 1, I appreciate Alexander Zverev’s athletic ability to manage type 1 and play excellent tennis… however, he was credibly accused of domestic violence by two partners (including the mother of his child) and he can veer toward violence even on the tennis court. I would not hold him up as a role model for anyone.
Garrett Mitchell, T1 center fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, is someone recently in the news to celebrate. I love @CarlosLuis’s posting about Kate Brim as well. I am also here to cheer on newly-elected senator, James Talarico – I think running for office is athletic in itself!
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The distinction between athletic achievement and role modeling matters here. Managing type 1 while competing at that level is genuinely notable, but credible allegations of domestic violence are a separate and serious matter that shouldn’t be waved away because of on-court success. Your point about Garrett Mitchell is a fair alternative, and Kate Brim’s story covers both resilience and diabetes management well. I’d add that highlighting athletes for their condition-management doesn’t require treating them as moral exemplars in every respect — those are different claims, and conflating them does a disservice to the conversation.
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I’ll give a shout out to Type 1 NHL players Kappo Kaako and Max Domi. There are probably others. Max wrote a book about it. These pro athletes consume and burn at least double the calories/carbs that we do. Can you imagine the tweaking you’d have to do with basal and bolus with that day to day? I admire their ability to manage that with diabetes and ignore the rest.
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Have to add a comment.
Before there were CGM’s, before there were pumps, before there were home blood glucose meters, even before there was any rapid acting insulin or any useful basal (only NPH), there was Bobby Clarke.
In the days of insulin made from cows and pigs, and testing your pee to see what your blood sugar was, this guy did it…
And not only did he play professional hockey with diabetes, but he ended up in the Hall of Fame.
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Well done!!!
CR
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