Whether or not you’ve heard of Alexander Zverev before, one thing you need to know is that he’s a talented young player with a bright future. If you haven’t though then here’s a little more information . He’s a 6’6” 18 year old German player and the younger brother of former World #45 Mischa Zverev with an attacking gamestyle and a whole lot of heart.
The teenager had a huge breakout year last year starting with winning the Boys Singles at the Australian Open and things only got better from then onwards. In July he won his first Challenger Tour title in Braunschweig beating Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final. To put that into prospect Paul-Henri Mathieu is a former top 15 player and is playing the final at the ATP event held in Kitzbuhel tomorrow, no small achievement for a 17 year old.
The German then had his huge breakout at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg beating the likes of Robin Haase, former top 10 player Mikhail Youzhny and clay court specialist Santiago Giraldo. Despite losing comprehensively just winning a single game to the #1 David Ferrer in the semis just making that stage of a tour event at 17 years of age raised a lot of eyebrows from tennis fans worldwide.
Since then it’s been more or less of a rollercoaster ride, this year it took him until the end of March to win his first match on tour, a R1 match against big serving Sam Groth in Miami. But as of lately things seems to be getting back on the right track again, with 8 wins on the main tour since Roland Garros including his first match win at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
As previously mentioned Alexander is an attacking player but it’s clear that he hasn’t quite steadied the ship about how he wants to go out and play his tennis. Last year although still being aggressive it’s clear this year he’s taken that to a whole new level, and given his body build it’s the right thing to do. No doubt it’s the reason for his poor start to the year while trying to get to grips with taking more balls on and dictating play but if his results from the last few months are anything to go by it’s finally having a positive effect.
This year alone the forehand looks more of a weapon and capable of hitting through players and while the backhand was his standout shot last year it’s not failing to impress this year either. At 18 years of age however there are faults in his game as expected but nothing too major that can’t be fixed.
At 6’6” his serve has a huge room for improvement and what doesn’t help is that he’s often serving at around 50% first serves in without the best second serve either. When you look at a player like Marin Cilic who is the same height, the key for him winning last year’s US Open was using his serve as a huge weapon and that’s exactly what he did despite having a poor serve for his standards prior to 2014.
Like I said however he’s only 18 and there’s no doubt the serve will improve, especially over the next few years where he gets physically stronger. What he has to avoid however is developing a great serve but with a low first serve arguably the main reason someone such as World #6 Tomas Berdych is still yet to win a Grand Slam.
The other aspect of his game that is suspect right now is his movement but that’s more than expected as every tall player has had this issue at a young age. As it stands the top players in the game can comprehensively move the German around and expose the weakest part of his game, which is exactly what Ferrer did last year when they played in Hamburg.
Over time his movement will no doubt improve but it’s definitely a case where the sooner it happens, the sooner big wins can happen. I think the best example here is Robin Soderling, pre-2009 he was a poor mover on court and a player ranked outside the top 15. After hiring Magnus Norman and improving his movement greatly, the Swede went onto making 2 Roland Garros finals, winning a Masters event and a career high of World #4.
This week in Washington DC at the ATP 500 event Alexander Zverev has had a great week so far. He’s beaten the likes of Kevin Anderson, the man who led eventual champion Novak Djokovic 2 sets to love at Wimbledon and Alexandr Dolgopolov, the man who beat Rafael Nadal at Queens. In the quarter-finals he will play current US Open champion Marin Cilic which may be a step too far for the teenager, but if he plays well he has the game to create chances and keep it close.
Right now the teenager isn’t able to directly enter Montreal, Cincinnati or the US Open but could well receive wildcards or a special exempt to Montreal next week depending on results in Washington DC the next few days. If he does gain entry to any of these events be it by a wildcard, special exempt or qualifying there’s no doubt if he avoids the top players early on that he’s capable of winning a few rounds.
Alexander Zverev, from all the signs shown thus far is very much the future of tennis. With a great game that is only going to keep improving there’s no doubt he can very well be the key to brightening tennis’ seemingly dull future. To add to that the German is already becoming a crowd favourite and is earning fans on court with his tennis and off court with his lovable personality. When you put it altogether it’s hard not to see why Alexander Zverev can’t be the next big thing to happen in tennis, he’s got it all.
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