Tennis icon Boris Becker followed Alexander Zverev’s opening victory at the Australian Open in his role as co-commentator and “Eurosport” expert. The 57-year-old was impressed by the Hamburger’s performance.
After 2:21 hours, the first match point was reached: Alexander Zverev started the Australian Open successfully with a smooth three-set win (6:4, 6:4, 6:4) against Frenchman Lucas Pouille. There was praise afterwards from tennis great Boris Becker.
“The first round is historically difficult for the favorites, but everything was good for Sascha,” said the three-time Wimbledon winner in his role as a “Eurosport” expert. In addition: With the opponent Pouille, we couldn’t really assess in advance how good and, above all, fit the former top 10 player is. “Both players convinced me today,” said Becker.
But it is also clear that Zverev still has to improve to achieve his big Grand Slam dream: “He can improve a bit in terms of return rate. But the serve was excellent.”
Becker: “We are used to completely different things from Sascha”
The 27-year-old himself was also satisfied afterwards and was happy about “a solid match,” as he told the TV station: “It was actually quite okay, I won in three sets.” Zverev knew that he still had to find his “rhythm”: “But it was okay under the circumstances.” His hitting arm had caused concern beforehand and the pain had been treated with injections.
He saw the fact that Zverev didn’t need five sets to win at the beginning of the tournament as a good sign. He is “always a candidate” who has to go the full distance. Becker knows: “We are used to something completely different from Sascha in the past. He makes a relaxed impression.”
Alexander Zverev was able to rely on a good service game against the world number 106, who was in the semi-finals in Melbourne in 2019 and was once in the top 10 of the world rankings. The best German tennis player hit 18 aces and only suffered one double fault. 78 percent of the points on the first serve were successful, he only allowed his opponent two break points, but he was unable to use any of them.
In the second round of the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev will face Spaniard Pedro Martínez next Wednesday (January 15th).