French Open: Becker judges Zverev - and still believes "that he can go far"
Alexander Zverev had a lot to prove at the French Open. However, he is struggling through the first crisis of his career, as Boris Becker has found.
by SID
last edit: May 27, 2019, 06:53 pm
Boris Becker's verdict on Alexander Zverev was rather rough in the choice of words. And ambivalent. "Especially on sand, actually his strongest surface, he played - to put it mildly - under all sow," said the three-time Wimbledon winner and Eurosport expert at the start of the French Open in Paris. At the end of his somewhat contradictory remarks, Becker came to the conclusion: "I think Zverev can go a long way." So what now?
The fact is: Zverev, 22, is struggling through the first crisis of his career. Before he won the small 250cc in Geneva on Saturday with an overwhelming will to win, he had played six tournaments on clay, and only one had at least made it to a third match. In Geneva, too, it was clear that Zverev is currently struggling to put his game together. His performance sometimes fluctuates from change of ball to change of ball, he lacks consistency.
Becker on crisis: "Happened to every top player"
"Of course there are many reasons why Sascha slipped into a small crisis," said Becker. In addition to the separation from his girlfriend and a sick leave from father Alexander, the legal dispute with his previous manager Patricio Apey had thrown him off the rail, said Zverev. With the tournament victory in Geneva, his eleventh overall and at the same time the fifth on sand, he has proven that he can fight against all odds in any case: fight.
A crisis, as Zverev is now experiencing, "happened to every top player, including me, of course," Becker noted. With him, the sag in his third year was in the top ten, "I no longer knew whether I could put the first or second serve in the field. You then ask yourself questions. I was 19 or 20 years old at the time everything is normal on the way to the absolute top of the world. " Zverev has been consistently in the top five in the world rankings since November 2017 - and is ATP champion.
# BETATHOMEFOWIN #
Zverev before kick-off against Millman
Zverev will contest his opening match in Roland Garros on Tuesday against Australian John Millman, only number 56 in the world rankings - and not exactly a clay court specialist. The Hamburg player's draw is now "not too bad," commented Becker, but warned: "There are three winning sets." And so far, Zverev has not convinced the four Grand Slams. His best result was the quarter-finals in Roland Garros last year. That was before his crisis.
Zverev himself remains optimistic. "I know," he said before arriving in Paris, "that I can be one of the best players in the world if I find my rhythm." And this week in Geneva "definitely helped me with that".
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