What Alexander Zverev showed in the round of 16 against Ugo Humbert was something we had seen many times before. In best-of-five games he likes to wobble in the early rounds – and yes, for him the round of 16 is “early in the tournament”. Due to the very favorable draw for him and the at least as favorable outcome so far, the German is likely to have divided the Australian Open like this: “compulsory” five times and then in the semi-finals against the winner of the mega duel Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz. In the quarterfinals next Tuesday, Zverev will face 12th seed American Tommy Paul, about whom he says: “He’s a smart guy who can change tactics quickly during games. He serves variably and constantly mixes his groundstrokes: first he plays high balls, then he throws in slices; he ends rallies quickly, suddenly he drags them out. That’s quite a challenge.”
This statement leads to an astonishing parallel between some Zverev games and heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko’s World Championship fights. He was usually physically, technically and tactically superior to his opponents; If everything went according to plan (and mastermind Klitschko always did), he won confidently. It wasn’t always spectacular, but it was extremely successful. Then the crazy Tyson Fury came along and told him: “You have perfected your craft; you are intelligent. Only: mental people get stressed when the unexpected happens and they have to improvise.” When applied to tennis, Zverev is similar: He has perfected his craft; Anyone who doesn’t deliver any surprises has no chance against him.
“I want to play three more games here,” said Zverev after the game
Humbert only did that in the second set: bolder returns, sharper angles with the forehand, sometimes slower slice backhands or in front of the net. Suddenly Zverev seemed unsure, a simple forehand landed in the net, his backhand wobbled. But now he is hardened enough to impose his plan on someone like Hubert, to overcome the shaky moments and win a game that would have been closer a few years ago with confidence 6:2, 2:6, 6:3, 6:2 to win. This is another evolution of his craft.
“I want to play three more games here,” he said afterwards. So: He wants to get to the final, and of course he wants to win it and record his longed-for first Grand Slam title. To do this, he will most likely have to achieve something that he has not yet achieved in his career: two wins in a row against people who give him the unexpected in best-of-five sets, not just for one set. Last year he defeated Alcaraz in the quarterfinals – and lost the semifinals to Russian Daniil Medvedev. So now comes the duty against Paul, and maybe from the semi-final onwards he will present something that we have never seen from him before.
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