Becker criticizes Zverev: "Haven't seen it so passively in a long time"
Six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker (54) clearly criticized tennis Olympic champion Alexander Zverevafter his knockout round at the Australian Open.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Jan 24, 2022, 03:16 pm
"I haven't seen Zverev so passive for a very long time. You can lose and play badly, but you can always make an effort and leave your soul on the pitch. We missed that today," said Becker at Eurosport about the "bitter smack". .
The Melbourne winner from 1991 and 1996 demanded from Zverev: "He has to think about what happened there. He was bursting with self-confidence before, but something happened in Australia in these weeks. The round of 16 is not enough for a top player like Zverev." After a mysterious performance, the Hamburger failed in three sets against Denis Shapovalov (Canada/No. 14).
While Germany's athlete of the year often plays big in tournaments with two winning sets such as the Olympic Games or the ATP Finals, he often lacks conviction against the top players in the Grand Slams. Zverev's balance sheet reads devastatingly: The third in the world rankings has only won one of the past eight matches against professionals in the top 20, in total he is 4:15 victories in these statistics.
Zverev self-critical after Australian Open
Zverev was self-critical after his defeat. "It was terrible of me today. There are no excuses. I came here with the aim of winning and maybe becoming number one in the world. If I play like that, I don't deserve it."
The 2020 US Open final remains Zverev's best Grand Slam result. The last German winner of the four most important tennis tournaments of the year is still Becker, who triumphed three times in Wimbledon (1985, 1986, 1989), once at the US Open (1989) and twice in Australia.
Here is the individual tableau in Melbourne
laver arena