Alexander Zverev lost a Grand Slam final for the third time in his tennis career for the third time in his tennis career. After previous final defeats at the US Open 2020 and the French Open 2024, it shouldn’t be in the Melbourne final against Jannik Sinner this time. Do the final bankruptcies mainly have mental reasons?
The German tennis legend Boris Becker at least noted in his analysis after the three-sentence defeat against Sinner at “Eurosport” that Zverev was not ready to take this big step. ” The 1.98-meter giant was “mentally not on the pitch”, the three-time Wimbledon champion was.
An assessment that the former top ten player Andrea Petkovic does not share. “This enigma that Alexander Zverev is not mentally strong, I don’t like to support that. Otherwise he would not be number two in the world,” the 37-year-old told “Eurosport”.
According to Petkovic, you have to make a difference between the basic mental strength and the special belief in yourself in one of the biggest endgames in the tennis world.
Zverev “one of the mentally strongest players in the world”
Petkovic agreed that this last belief in his own strength, the great self -confidence in the final against Jannik Sinner was probably missing in 3: 6, 6: 7 and 3: 6. The former Fed Cup player was unable to say whether Zverev can still improve in this area: “Only he can answer that. However, I don’t even know if you can work on it.”
Today’s TV presenter emphasized that she has no doubt about the basic mental stability at Alexander Zverev: “There is simply a big difference. I would like to emphasize that he has what it takes to win a Grand Slam. Everyone knows, that I am a huge optimist. “
The German number one is “not only mentally strong, but one of the mentally strongest players in the world.”