Germany’s best tennis player fails again shortly before his big goal. TV expert Patrik Kühnen explains why he hopes this will have a positive effect for Zverev.
The three-time Davis Cup winner and current TV expert Patrik Kühnen is convinced after Alexander Zverev’s defeat in the final of the Australian Open: “It will be difficult for him to deal with this match.” That’s what Kühnen said after the 3:6, 6:7 (4:7), 3:6 against the Italian world number one Jannik Sinner in an interview with t-online.
However, he also hopes for a positive effect on Zverev’s ongoing hunt for his first Grand Slam victory: “Such a match will motivate him to continue working on himself in order to finally achieve this big goal.” Zverev “still has time and potential to continue to improve and become the best version of himself. He has every opportunity to do so.”
Zverev also “played a fantastic tournament. He tried everything in his power today to win the final. But Jannik Sinner always had an answer to his shots in the crucial moments.” Important details would have made the difference in the final.
Zverev had “a very strong year in 2024” in which he made it to second place in the world rankings. “And then he put an average of 70 percent of his first serves into the field. But today it was only 60 percent. At this high level, such nuances make an enormous difference – and Sinner took advantage of that.”
The 23-year-old South Tyrolean “was simply in a class of his own today. He didn’t allow a single break ball throughout the entire game – that alone speaks for his enormous serve strength, his resilience and the ability to play his absolute best tennis in the important moments .” Sinner “showed an incredibly strong performance, in my opinion his best performance in the entire tournament,” Kühnen explains. “There’s no need to complicate it: Jannik Sinner was simply the better player in this final.”
Only when the score was 4:5 in the second set did Sinner, who seemed to have problems with his left thigh, wobble a bit. “It was 0:30 from his point of view. That was perhaps the only small window that opened up for Alexander Zverev during the match. But then came a series of several first serves – and that showed his extra class “At that moment of all times he was able to access everything that was necessary.”
Kühnen was also impressed by Zverev’s appearance during the tournament: “He has matured as a player and as a person,” says the 58-year-old with regard to Zverev’s confident, reflective interviews after the matches. The Olympic champion in Tokyo has “become a much, much better player in the last 12 or 18 months. He has stabilized significantly, his serve is one of the absolute best in the tennis world.”
The long-time captain of the German Davis Cup team believes that it is unlikely that the third defeat in a Grand Slam final will have a negative effect: “Of course Zverev will keep trying, winning a Grand Slam will remain his goal. One thing is clear “The competition is great, especially with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are both a little younger than him.” Kühnen is certain: “He will work on himself.” The competition with Sinner and Alcaraz could even have a positive effect: “A Roger Federer, a Rafael Nadal and a Novak Djokovic also needed each other to push themselves to new heights.”
Kühnen predicts: “For me, Sinner, Zverev and Alcaraz are the three who are always the top candidates for the big titles this season.”