When the former stars of the tennis scene were asked about their predictions for the Australian Open in the past few days, Alexander Zverev was far ahead of most experts. However, for reasons he couldn't like. Because Zverev only held a top position in the hit list of candidates who could be the first to fall victim to a bigger surprise.

Hardly anyone named Zverev as the title candidate for the Grand Slam test in Melbourne, many were rather skeptical whether the young German would survive the first week of the tournament down under. "The skepticism about Zverev's grand slam performance has apparently gotten into the new year," says former world leader Mats Wilander, who is now looking at center court matters for Eurosport.

Alexander Zverev is very relaxed

In fact, the grand slam tournaments in the tennis circus are viewed more than ever as a separate, closed world, with their own value, with their own challenge profile. Zverev may be the reigning ATP world champion, but the major tournaments have so far been largely an enigma for the 21-year-old from Hamburg - both in terms of external and internal expectations. Zverev will not escape this burden in Melbourne either, it sounds more like a pious wish when the fourth in the world rankings announces that he "just wants to have fun playing as many games as possible, big matches in the big places."

Keeping hopes and goals low has also tried Zverev elsewhere in Grand Slam locations; it has helped little. At the US Open, he most recently failed against compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber in a bitter career moment, instead of getting involved for the first time in the second week of New York, Zverev left the battlefield in a humiliated state.

Zverev with injuries in preparation for Melbourne

The preparations of the proud champion of the London ATP celebrations for 2019 and its first, as always early season climax, were mixed - to put it mildly. The hard, good training work in Monte Carlo was followed by the guest appearance at the Hopman Cup in Perth, alongside Angelique Kerber, the whole thing ended in a lost matchball drama in the final against Switzerland.

Zverev suffered a minor thigh injury, later he knuckled his ankle in a show match - nothing you need in the run-up to the complex Grand Slam performance in Melbourne in the hellish weather kitchen at the National Tennis Center. He "has no major worries," said Zverev, but how relaxed, easy and easy he really can be will not be seen until Tuesday, in the first round against the uncomfortable Slovenian Aljaz Bedene.

Zverev: "I'm not a favorite here anyway"

Two things are possible, a more friendly or a rather dark interpretation: Zverev could, with the injury problems in the back of the head, play free. Simply because nobody expects anything great from him, neither does he himself. “I'm not a favorite here anyway. There are completely different names involved, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, ”he says himself. On the other hand, you never need a complete trust in your own body, the uncompromising belief in full performance than in Melbourne. Where heat and hellish weather frenzy traditionally make it difficult for the artists of the traveling circus. If Zverev lacks only a few percentage points of optimal physique, this can be a considerable disadvantage.

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"For Sascha, it is more important than ever not to waste too much energy in the early matches," says Boris Becker, the head of department at German men's tennis. He, the old fighter, the hero and failed of many Melbourne fights, urges more realism in the Zvera case: "Despite everything, he is not yet a player in development, he still has to find his way in the Grand Slams" , says Becker, “and out there a few of the greatest of all time. And they don't go away that quickly either. "

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