On January 28th it will be 25 years since Boris Becker last triumphed at the Australian Open. In the final, the man from Leimen won in four sets against Michael Chang. It was not only Becker’s last Grand Slam title, but also the last of a German player. Alexander Zverev wasn’t even born then, now the 24-year-old could follow in Becker’s big footsteps.
After the scandal surrounding Novak Djokovic and the associated departure of the world number one, the chances of the native of Hamburg have increased. However, Zverev is confident enough to count himself as a top favorite if the Serb participates. And rightly so. After all, he was the player with the most titles on the ATP Tour in 2021 (six), triumphing at the Olympic Games and the ATP Finals in Turin, among others.
Zverev can achieve big goals in Melbourne
As a result, Zverev set his goals for the new tennis year: he wanted to win his first Grand Slam title and become number one in the world. After all, Zverev has already mastered the first step on this ambitious path. Without the great shine, but ultimately sovereign, he defeated Daniel Altmaier in round one in three sets.
It is also certain: Djokovic cannot defend his title and will lose 2000 points. So Zverev can already achieve both goals in Melbourne. However, with a slight delay, because the Australian Open 2021 only took place in February and the new calculation of the world rankings will therefore not be carried out until next month.
These are ambitious goals that a player in his class must have. Because since Becker there has not been a German player with such great potential. Zverev is one of the best servers in the world and is also unparalleled with his powerful groundstrokes on good days – of which there have been a lot lately. The 24-year-old has had the talent to become the new number one for a long time. But the major tournaments in particular lacked the consistency that you need in a strenuous two-week tournament.
But Zverev has worked on himself and eliminated many construction sites that stood in the way of him on the way to his big goals:
In the majors in particular, it sometimes seemed as if Zverev wasn’t really pursuing a plan to simply win a match over three winning sets – even if he wasn’t showing his best tennis. Zverev struggled too often in the first rounds over five sets, so that in the end there was a lack of strength and mental freshness against the top players.
His record was accordingly: In Wimbledon 2015, Zverev was in the main draw for the first time, but it took until 2018 before he reached the second week of a Grand Slam. He can now do that regularly: Zverev has been in the semifinals three times since the beginning of 2020 and also reached the final of the US Open 2020, in which he lost to Dominic Thiem in the tie-break of the fifth set.
“The second serve is a look into the soul of the tennis player,” philosophized Boris Becker as an expert at the time. In fact, Alexander Zverev’s mental life was not intact for a long time. His second serve landed partly wide, partly in the root of the net. Zverev despaired of it. He served 392 double faults in 2019. For comparison: Stefanos Tsitsipas, who played a similar number of matches and is one of the young guard, only made 174 double faults in 2019.
The German slowly got his serve problem under control, because in 2020 there were still 220 double errors with significantly fewer matches (due to the corona pandemic). His service only stabilized last year: 271 double errors were recorded in the end. Still above average in the world class, but Zverev no longer loses matches due to double faults.
Successful coaches like Ivan Lendl or Juan Carlos Ferrero are desperate for Zverev. Sometimes it was the missing percentage points that Zverev did not deliver. Sometimes it was the close ties to the family clan. Isn’t there room for an “external” trainer? Last year at the latest, it turned out that Zverev seems to feel most comfortable with his family clan. With the people who accept him for who he is.
In addition, private problems, such as the long-standing dispute with his management and the resulting separation, were finally declared over. Zverev can now fully concentrate on his big goals. And those around him have his back.
Record against top 10 players
In his career, Zverev won around 48 percent of his matches against the top ten players in the world. 39-43 is his slightly negative record, which he improved significantly last year. Zverev won 52 percent of these matches and was number three in this ranking behind Daniil Medvedev (67%) and Novak Djokovic (81%).
However, this is still the biggest shortcoming on the way to the major title. In Grand Slam tournaments, his sobering record is 0:10! Zverev is still missing the decisive piece of the puzzle over three winning sets. Amazing when you consider that he can regularly beat the big names in the industry – see Djokovic at the Olympics and the ATP Finals.
Of course, Zverev plays into the cards at the Australian Open that Djokovic is no longer a possible semi-final opponent. The first big hurdle, at least in terms of an encounter with a top 10 player, would be for Zverev in the quarter-finals. Possible opponent: Rafael Nadal. And then there’s Daniil Medvedev, who is also aiming for the title and number one in the lower half of the tournament tree. A possible duel with the Russian, whom he defeated for the first time at the ATP Finals in Turin, would be the ultimate showdown for Novak Djokovic’s succession to the throne.
Lars Wiedemann
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