When Alexander Zverev and Philipp Kohlschreiber meet in the third round of the US Open on Saturday, memories of 2015 will come alive. At that time, the two had already played against each other once in New York. But in the meantime, the balance of power has fundamentally shifted.
When Alexander Zverev and Philipp Kohlschreiber met three years ago in New York, the pecking order was still quite clear. At that time Kohlschreiber was the only top 50 player to have played German men’s tennis. And Zverev? He was a brash, cheeky teenager, 18 years young, still an apprentice on the big tour. As a qualifier he had fought his way into the main field and then delivered Kohlschreiber a breathtaking first-round duel in hellish heat.
Kohlschreiber, the frontman on call, said a few more great words after the five-sentence thriller that he had won, which betrayed more than just the usual collegial recognition: “He is a blessed man. He’ll one day be number one and win Grand Slams.” And about himself, Kohlschreiber said: “I am a solid worker. Nothing more, nothing less.”
And here they are united again, at the US Open 2018, in the 50th year of the American Grand Slam, in the third round on Saturday again professional opponents – Kohlschreiber, still a world class player at the not so tender age of 34 years.
And Zverev, within a short time rapidly ascended to a world star. A top 5 player, a man of high ambitions, a potential major winner, who just before this tournament once again brought a certain Ivan Lendl to his side to pass even the most difficult maturity tests.
It will be game five of the two Germans against each other, 2:2 in a personal comparison, last Zverev won the Munich final against Kohlschreiber.
Kohlschreiber, the brilliant technician, has always dreamed of what he has been striving for with all his strength, energy and passion for years – a place in the top 10 and perhaps a victory at one of the ATP Masters tournaments – the 21-year-old Zverev has long since achieved.
When they march onto one of the larger courts at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center on Saturday, one thing is also clear: Kohlschreiber, number 34 in the rankings, has had the most and probably the best in his career, many successes and many disappointments. But Zverev, although it sometimes doesn’t seem so, still has everything in front of him. The experts agree that it is only a matter of time before the Grand Slam title coups and the jump to first place.
Kohlschreiber and Zverev also know each other from joint Davis Cup days. There are always many people around him,” says Kohlschreiber, “a large family that also protects him. The Bavarian does not want to have this understood negatively at all, Zverev’s world is just “altogether a different one”: “I have enormous respect for his achievements. He’s always under a lot of pressure.”
When Zverev talks about Kohlschreiber, it doesn’t just sound like warm words of duty: “There are few who stay in the top 30 for ten years or more,” says the Hamburg-based Monte Carlo about his German colleague and Davis Cup partner, “he’s simply a very good player. Always dangerous as an adversary.”
A player is also the elder whose whole tennis life had a different narrative. Kohlschreiber is a child of the German association system, which offers good funding conditions in Bavaria in particular. He was often overshadowed by other players, such as Tommy Haas or Nicolas Kiefer. He has never had such high hopes as Zverev, the best of a tennis-crazy family.
All Zverevs played good to very good tennis, but the youngest, it was quickly clear, was something special. At the age of 21, he has already reached the top of the tennis world, in the middle of a carefully planned and choreographed career that knows only the most demanding goals. “He’s playing a monster season again this year,” says Kohlschreiber, “it’s strong, which he constantly shows at a young age.
But Kohlschreiber can’t resist a little teasing: “He already has such a small Grand Slam complex,” says the veteran, “he’ll take it off at some point. But it’s best after this tournament.”
Zverev and the US Open – it was not yet a real love affair. Last year, as a serious favourite at the time, he left the Big Apple grumbled: in the second round, against generation colleague Borna Coric, it was all over. It was a crash from a height above the surface. Now Zverev has mastered two rounds without special resistance, but faces the first real challenge against Kohlschreiber: “This will be anything but a sure-fire success,” he says.
And he’s right: Kohlschreiber has dumped other big boys with big names in New York in the last 16 years he’s been coming to this Grand Slam in a row. He beat the US giant John Isner, now a top 10 man, three times in a heated atmosphere, others like Nadal he had on the brink of sensational defeat. “Maybe the old man will have the last word,” Kohlschreiber says.