Roland-Garros 2021 – Men to watch: Alexander Zverev

ALEXANDER ZVEREV

Country: germany
Date of birth: April 20, 1997
Height: 1.98 m
Weight: 90 kg
Right handed
Ranking: N ° 6 worldwide

Roland-Garros and him

An already interesting consistency. On his last three appearances at Porte d’Auteuil, Alexander Zverev has systematically qualified for the second week even if he has not progressed: the quarter-finals in 2018 and 2019, then the eighth in 2020. But this last somewhat disappointing result presents two major mitigating circumstances. First, the German was sick during his elimination against a Jannik Sinner on fire which then posed some problems for the master of the house Rafael Nadal.

Then, the great Sascha was probably not fully recovered from his lost final at the US Open against his friend Dominic Thiem. He himself had confessed to having nightmares about it. But looking at the glass half full, this 2020 season will have allowed him to pass a milestone (semi-final at the Australian Open too) and there is no reason that he cannot do it either. at Roland Garros, where he made his first Grand Slam breakthrough three years ago.

His assessment:

Participations : 6
Titles: 0
Matches played: 18
Matches won: 13
Sets Played: 72
Sets Won: 42

Its preparation

A real rise in power. Alexander Zverev first worried in Monte-Carlo then Munich, beaten by a David Goffin who was in a crisis of confidence on the Rock, before giving in to Belarusian Ilya Ivashka (then 107th in the world) in Bavaria. But after these sluggish beginnings, the world number 6 took off in Madrid, where the altitude conditions showed off his power and his quality as a first service ball tremendously.

On the way to the title – his 4th in Masters 1000, the 3rd on clay and the 2nd in the Spanish capital – he even allowed himself to dominate Nadal without possible dispute in front of his audience in the quarter-finals. Admittedly, the Mallorcan took his revenge at the same stage the following week in Rome, but the German more than resisted despite a rather dry score. During this second duel, he also perhaps paid a little physically for the sequence of the two tournaments during which he won 7 matches in a row. Enough to approach Roland-Garros with confidence.

Three stats to remember

5. Zverev’s consistency is not limited to Roland Garros as we have seen above. The German has consistently reached the second week in his last 5 Grand Slam tournaments since the US Open 2019. He has even done it 7 times in his last 8 tries.

0/7. The German has never managed to beat Novak Djokovic (0/2), Rafael Nadal (0/1), or Dominic Thiem (0/4) in the best of five Grand Slam sets in 7 attempts. However, they are undoubtedly the three best players on clay in recent years. At Roland Garros, he clashed twice with the Austrian (2nd round in 2016 and quarter in 2018) and once against the Serbian (quarter in 2019) and won only one set during these three matches.

55. This is the number of double faults committed by Zverev in 12 matches on clay in 2021, or between 4 and 5 per game at the best of three sets on average. If he hit 66 aces in addition, this fragility on the second ball could be detrimental to him, especially as the numbers could swell on the long format of the five sets.

The big question: Will he be able to save himself in the first week?

Alexander Zverev is an unpredictable player. Capable of asserting himself to the point of being irresistible against the greatest as in Madrid against Nadal recently, but also of liquefying and totally losing the thread of his match without any logical cause explaining it. However, his average level now allows him to be always (or almost) at the rendezvous of the second week and a safe bet in Grand Slam.

To take the ultimate step and bring down the big names, you still have to face them in optimal conditions. However, during these two previous quarter-finals at Roland Garros, he had spent a lot of energy in the first rounds, going after five sets three times in 2018 (2nd round, 3rd round and eighth-finals) and two more times in 2019 (1st round and 3rd round). If he spends the first week as he has acquired the good habit, he will have to be more expeditious and efficient.

Especially since the German seems to feel quite confident before hostilities start. If his failure in the final of the US Open has long haunted his nights, he now says that this experience gives him additional motivation to unlock his Grand Slam counter. He also drew a lot of positive lessons from his two recent confrontations against the “Taureau de Manacor”, to such an extent that he sees in a possible third duel in Paris a “thrilling match“. All you have to do is join action with words on the court.