Alexander Zverev traveled to Australia with great ambitions. After his victories, he continued to train for hours. Still it wasn’t enough. The frustration of the Olympic champion runs deep.
Less than 45 minutes after the bitter defeat of his career, Alexander Zverev trotted into the newly created, oversized main press conference room deep in the catacombs of the media center between the Kiaarena and the Center Court of the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Decorated entirely in black, the room looks a bit like a theater or cinema, because the reporters sit up in a similarly staggered manner and look down at the desk and thus at the protagonists of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
So down there Zverev had to sit down, he had lowered his head, his gaze directed into the distance, past the dozens of pairs of eyes. He supported his head with his huge hands, he covered large parts of his facial features with his tousled, long, blond hair.
Observers saw the most depressed Alexander Zverev since the US Open triumph in autumn 2020, missed by two points. At that time he had trotted in a similar way, his eyes completely empty – the disappointment after the final drama against Dominic Thiem was palpable for everyone. On Sunday evening in Melbourne, however, nobody really had an explanation for what had happened: not Zverev himself, not his team, not the experts and not his fans either. The round of 16 defeat against 14th seed Denis Shapovalov left her at a loss. After a year with six ATP titles including Olympic victory, triumph at the ATP finals and two semi-finals at Grand Slams 2022, Zverev and his team only competed for the really big goals: Grand Slam triumph and number one in the world rankings . However, his critics feel confirmed this Sunday.
Bankruptcy number 15
Zverev has won everything but two winning sets on the ATP tour and has beaten every big player multiple times. He has won more matches than lost against top 20 players in normal tournaments (72:67). In the four major tournaments, which are played for three winning sets, only four of these victories are recorded. In Melbourne against Shapovalov bankruptcy number 15 was added.
A visibly disappointed Alexander Zverev (right) congratulates Denis Shapovalov on the victory. (Source: Shutterstock/imago images)
Of course, Zverev, the dogged tennis freak, knows these statistics. When confronted with this discrepancy in the German part of the press conference on Sunday, the German took a deep breath and calmly replied: “In the past two years I’ve played extremely well at Grand Slams. I haven’t won any, but almost always good matches shown.” Then the third in the world rankings paused for several seconds, looked up and added combatively: “I will continue to do everything I can to raise a Grand Slam trophy, but right now it’s silly to talk about it.” He just lost in the fourth round to three seeders. He has to start with himself.
He had previously set the benchmark for his performance in communication with international reporters. “I can’t find many positives today. It was probably one of the worst matches I’ve played since Wimbledon,” he explained in English. At the most prestigious tournament of the year in 2021, he also lost in five sets in the round of 16 against Shapovalov’s compatriot Felix Auger Aliassime – after that he only lost four matches in the further course of the season. That had made him a co-favorite here in Melbourne in the absence of Novak Djokovic alongside Russian Daniil Medvedev and Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
“International class” instead of “world class”
In fact, Zverev has also undergone constant development in the continent’s most important tournaments. Including the Australian Open, Zverev was in the semifinals of four of the last eight Grand Slam tournaments; there is also a final, two quarter-finals and two round of 16. With nine participations in a row, Zverev is a permanent guest in the second week of Grand Slams – proof of consistency. In the “Kicker” ranking list, the successes outside of the Grand Slams would presumably be enough for the title “international class” if Zverev were a footballer.
Under pressure at a major tournament, he took the label “world class” for himself, at least for the time being. The performance against Shapovalov was sub-par. Zverev’s dreaded one-two punch – i.e. the serve and the first punch afterwards – were completely ineffective against Shapovalov, who played properly but by no means outstandingly. Zverev seemed powerless, slow, uninspired and prone to errors in the second largest stadium in the facility, except for a short phase at the beginning of the first set, in which he could have broken Shapovalov early on. Zverev saw it similarly in the press conference room.
“There are no excuses. I just have to be better than today. It’s nobody else’s fault, not the coach, not the team – just me. I’m number three in the world and I have to take responsibility for the things I do Or not,” Zverev summed up self-critically.
He felt extremely slow and not fresh. “But I have nothing. I feel ok,” added Zverev. Sometimes there are days and weeks when you just have to take care of yourself. “I could say I’ve got a cold or something. I’ll be honest. I don’t have anything. I’ve only had a shitty week – so related to tennis.”
Zverev didn’t feel good in the previous matches either. This is one of the reasons why the 24-year-old added another training session to each of his matches immediately after the end of the game and sometimes only showed up for the media commitments three hours later. Brother Mischa Zverev, now a coach, manager and also a kind of pastor, justified this by saying that his protégé wanted to focus completely on tennis. Everything was designed for that first big title.
Mischa Zverev knows his brother better than anyone else. (Source: Martin Hoffmann/imago images)
The morning before the defeat, Mischa Zverev was confident at a small media round near the well-known Flinders Street not far from the facility and spoke of his brother’s constant playful and mental development. Possible tactics for the quarter-finals against Rafael Nadal have already been philosophized.
As is well known, this will not happen. The Mallorcan plays Shapovalov for a chance to break the sole Grand Slam record of 21 titles in the absence of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Zverev has to keep waiting for title number one. Whether he is ready for it has never been more uncertain than this Sunday in Melbourne.