Australian Open: Breakthrough or further waiting: Zverev faces tough tests in 2018

Alexander Zverev, the exceptional man of the generation after next, has a hard year ahead of him, especially after his successes in 2017. He himself is optimistic, but also pragmatic.

Alexander Zverev knows exactly what awaits him in a Grand Slam tournament like the Australian Open, which is now a matter of course. Of course, the fierce resistance of his opponents, Zverev is no longer the hunter in the big caravan of the tennis pros, but the rushed, the driven, the man in 4th place on the world ranking list, against whom it is worth winning. I don’t listen to it, it doesn’t mean anything to me,”says Zverev, when he is confronted with these forecasts and prophecies,” there have been so many prodigies, potential number one players, who have made it possible for him to become the world’s number one prognosis. I can’t take care of these things in everyday life.”

Zverev is the strongest and best in an age group of young players, which is often referred to by the ATP professional union as the “NextGen”group in marketing. Last year, the ATP even hosted its own World Cup for the stars of tomorrow in Milan. However, Zverev, the model player of Next-Gen, was not even in Milan, he had already made it to the regular ATP final in London. The Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov won there, whose career was marked by the fact that he had been called the next top man for as many years, and that the assembled experts were also regularly misled and disappointed.

The curious thing about Dimitrov, for example, is that you could still have a representative of the “next generation” – in a tennis era in which it is now considered normal that almost all players from the world’s top thirties are over thirty. Federer, the man of the year 2017, is already 36 years old and there is nothing to indicate that the estimated Maestro’s departure will be quick.”In tennis, everything is currently shifting in the age question,” says the Swede Mats Wilander, once number 1 himself,”Players who are already as far ahead of the field in their early twenties as Zverev, are rather atypical” According to Wilander’s impressions, players need several years in modern tennis. Now more than ever, because the competition is getting tougher and tougher.”

Looking back a little closer to last year, the so-called next generation was on everyone’s lips – again and again the topic surged up, especially in the shape of Zverev, but also the other way round in the person of Nick Kyrgios, who failed due to the early pressure of expectation. They existed, the flashlight-like snapshots in which young players gave rise to great hope, but in fact the old ones dominated the events again. Federer, the magic comebacker. And the eternal fighter and permanent returnee Rafael Nadal. All four Grand Slam titles were taken over by them. Players such as Zverev were still losing out on the biggest stages, and in autumn many of the youngsters obviously had physical problems. Zverev, Austria’s star Dominic Thiem (24):”What you have to do on the tour is already brutal” Zverev, his friend, assisted me with the conclusion:”It’s still a great learning process for me. Also dealing with the highs and lows. Life on the public stage is often painful.”

What is commonly referred to as the breakthrough of the new generation is not to be expected in 2017 either – namely a widespread success at the Grand Slams or the filling of many absolute top positions. The persistent forces at the top, in the time-tested cracks around Federer and Nadal, are literally strong. ATP World Champion Dimitrov is the person in charge of the question whether the mid-twenties are good for more than expected headlines in the top echelons, even now in Melbourne, at the Australian Open. Others besides Dimitrov include: the Belgian David Goffin, the American Jack Sock, the Spaniard Pablo Carrena-Busta, the Canadian Milos Raonic.

Zverev, the exceptional man of the generation after next, has a tough year ahead of him, the difficult second year in the summit region. He has announced that after a rather weak year of the Grand Slam in 2017, he now wants to triumph in a major – against all the opposition, which knows him well and no longer has to fight with surprise effects. Zverev could be the youngest Grand Slam Champion since Juan Martin del Potro (2009/US Open). But it could also become the prototype of a generation that needs to mature further and wait.