Alexander Zverev’s super season came to a sudden and tragic end with his defeat in the decisive group game at the Nitto ATP finals in London against Jack Sock.
A few days before the World Cup, Alexander Zverev was asked how well he could cope with heavy defeats. He is “certainly not a man who can lose particularly well,”Zverev replied. And then he added:”I don’t mourn for a long time now, but I rush back to work. Because next week there’s another new tournament coming up.”
But now, after 16. November 2017, no new tournament, no new chance. No possibility of forgetting, displacing or fast processing. In a matter of seconds, Zverev’s largely great season came to a sobering end in late Thursday evening. It was 4:5 and 30:30 in the third and decisive set of his last group match against Jack Sock, the all-or-nothing match for the semi-finals, when Zverev first served a double error – 30:40, Matchball Sock. A longer rally followed, and Zverev put a slight forehand in the end. Off and past the game, the tournament, the 2017 tennis year. With a ruthless testimony of the 20-year-old striker, the current number 3 in the world rankings:”I have failed. Not only that, Zverev criticized the whole autumn of tennis, the time after the US Open:” I played mostly crap,”Zverev said,” He’s going to take this frustration with him on vacation in the Maldives.
London, the World Cup with a surprising line-up without many top names such as Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray had given Zverev the chance to harmonise his annual balance sheet. 2017 was a year of mixed impressions until the World Cup. Almost always outstanding in everyday life on the tour, with two Masters triumphs, three more Pokalcoups, the advance in the world ranking. But it was also a year in which the breakthrough did not succeed in the all-clearing Grand Slams. Which wasn’t bad at all for a young adult professional, especially for teenagers. But this did not fit Zverev’s own demands. Only in Wimbledon did he make it into the second week of the tournament, but he lost matches at the French Open and the US Open, which he didn’t have to lose. In Melbourne, he provided Rafael Nadal with a heroic five-set fight, unable to take advantage of tempting victory opportunities.
The World Cup championship could have been his tournament, his moment. There was no one in the field of the eight season best Zverev should or should have been afraid of. Not even in front of Roger Federer, the friend and idol. Against him, the Maestro, Zverev had all the options to win in the second group game, but a tiebreak in the first set, lost after a 4-0 lead, brought the whole project World Cup in turbulence. Against the American Sock, a man who had qualified for the World Cup at the last second and played casually and relaxed, Zverev was under massive pressure, including his own expectations. In the end he failed under this burden, it turned out that Zverev is not always mentally ready for these top games from the first to the last minute.
And it also turned out that the seasonal planning in Team Zverev has to adapt gradually to the changed realities: Zverev has to adjust its bets better, take enough breaks to survive the year before the World Cup. This autumn, Zverev played far too much tennis and – already exhausted – took too many negative experiences with him to London. He only played one more decent tournament after the New York Grand Slam, the ATP competition in Beijing, where he made it to the semi-finals. Both against Federer and Sock, Zverev worked at the limit of his physical potential in the third set in London, no wonder with 77 seasonal matches,”I’ve felt my bones already,” said Zverev,”the last few weeks have been very hard.
Nothing takes all this away from a year in which Zverev’s performances kept inviting people to dream. To the justified expectation that the next German Grand Slam winner can grow up here. Zverev has become number 3 in the world, he stands directly behind the two grands Nadal and Federer, he is something like the born heir to the throne and heir. Federer, for example, at 20, was by no means as far away as Zverev. Just like Zverev now, he had to grow into the role of the very great winner. Even before the World Cup, Zverev had already mentioned this:”It’s not easy to live this life as a professional. At the age of 20, under constant public scrutiny,” That too may explain why you can lose your nerves in the third set of a World Cup match at this age – and fail.