Wimbledon: Comeback of will: Alexander Zverev fights his way into round three

Alexander Zverev fought his way to Wimbledon in detention in round three. Against US youngster Taylor Fritz, the German hopeful makes a strong comeback.

Alexander Zverev thundered the ball into the audience and cheered his comeback of will with his arms outstretched. In detention, the great German hopeful fought his way into the third round at the Grand Slam highlight in Wimbledon. His second round duel with the strong US youngster Taylor Fritz, which continued on Friday at 1:2 after sets, won Zverev 6:4, 5:7, 6:7 (0:7), 6:1, 6:2 after a nerve-racking comeback performance.

“It was not a good feeling to go to bed 2-1 behind. But today I played better and got my chances. The sets today were already very good”, said Zverev after the successful conclusion, “I am happy to be further in the tournament.

It took the 21-year-old 3:12 hours to finally win the hard earned five-set against Fritz, one year younger. The next opponent of the native hamburger is now the Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Philipp Kohlschreiber (Augsburg/No. 25) retired after a 3:6, 5:7, 5:7 against the South African Kevin Anderson (No. 8).

German Wimbledon legend Boris Becker had gone to court hard with Zverev before the successful second act of his tennis thriller. “He thinks he’s going to be the next superstar, but he’s got a lot of work ahead of him,” said the three-time BBC TV expert champion on Friday morning. Becker Zverev’s main problem was Zverev’s wait-and-see style of play: “He fell back into his comfort zone. He has to step forward, hit the ball earlier.”

And indeed, thanks to a much more active performance, Zverev managed an impressive turnaround. While the previously so courageous outsider Fritz obviously struggled with his nerves, the German seemed determined from the first rally on. In only 21 minutes he won the fourth set, allowing Fritz only nine point wins at all. In the decisive set Zverev managed an early break to 2:1 – and then gave himself no more nudity.

On Thursday evening, Zverev was still on the edge of the abyss, when he had figuratively stumbled on damp ground. He had taken a first slip at the baseline with humor and – much to the amusement of the audience – mimed briefly the sleeping. After he had landed on the lawn two more times a little later, however, the Hamburg native increasingly lost the desire for jokes.

Zverev not only struggled with the wetness of the lawn, but also with his own game. After a concentrated start, the match slipped away from him slowly but steadily. The interruption due to the onset of darkness came just in time for Zverev. On Friday he impressively showed that he is already one step further ahead than his counterpart on the other side of the net.

While Zverev has long since established himself in the absolute world class, Fritz remains at least for the time being a promise for the future. And this despite the fact that the Californian is at least off the court an early ripener in the tennis world. Fritz married at 18, became father of a son at 19. At 20, however, he waits in vain for a third round entry in a Grand Slam tournament. Zverev has that too.