The reconquest operation has officially started for Alexander Zverev. By defending the points of his semi-final at Roland-Garros a year after tearing three ligaments in his right ankle on the Philippe-Chatrier court, the German came full circle and somehow saw the light in end of the tunnel. From this week, he will therefore only be able to earn points by the end of the season since he had been removed from the courts at the end of 2022. Already in the quarter-finals in Halle, the current 22nd in the world can hope for a good comeback. in the ranking.
Optimism and ambition are therefore back. With a nuance, however, in the very short term, as he had warned at a press conference at Roland-Garros when he was asked if he felt again that he could go all the way in a Grand Slam tournament. “Yeah, I feel like I can do it now. Maybe not at Wimbledon, because… well, it’s played on grass and so it’s more difficult for me. But in general it’s is the mindset I will have in the future.”
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It’s not because of height, otherwise Raonic, Ivanisevic and Krajicek wouldn’t have won anything on grass
And Zverev clarified his thoughts a few days ago in an interview with the German daily Bild, considering himself “too big” for the surface. Culminating at 1 meter 98, the Olympic champion is in fact more in difficulty when he has to bend his long segments. The (lower) rebounds and the efficiency of the slice which allows the balls to fly more on the grass are actually less to his advantage. And with two knockout stages in 2017 and 2021 as his best results, Wimbledon is clearly the Major where he is least comfortable, as in the other three he has at least reached the last four.
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But Zverev’s excuse does not convince Boris Becker. “I don’t understand it, it’s not because of height. If that were the case, Raonic would never have won anything on grass, and let’s not talk about Ivanisevic, Krajicek and all the players more I think he hasn’t found his style of play yet and that’s the reason for his difficulties. He feels uncomfortable on the grass, and that has something to do with it. with his footwork and his style of play. You have to play in a different way on grass, compared to clay or hard, and you have to train specifically. You cannot be satisfied with a few tournaments, you have to do grass training sessions”, insisted the three-time Wimbledon winner in his podcast “Das Gelbe vom Ball” on Eurosport Germany.
Moreover, the picture is not so apocalyptic as that on grass for Zverev. If he did not win any of his 19 titles on grass, he still reached the final twice in a row in Halle, in 2016 and 2017. The first year, he even beat Roger Federer – admittedly diminished then by a sore knee – in half to achieve this, before suffering the wrath of the Swiss who came back to full strength during the following edition. At the time, “Sascha” was respectively 19 and 20 years old: such results so early on a surface that gives pride of place to experience therefore seemed rather to indicate interesting predispositions.
Specific and… psychological work to destroy the complex
Expert in the field, Becker therefore sees no fatality in the disappointing performances of his young compatriot since. “It all starts with the footwork. At the beginning, you can’t move normally on the grass because you slip. That means that the first days of training, you don’t play much with the ball, and you focus on the slides? How to slide on grass? Should I slide or not? Then there is the question of the serve and the return which are the two most important shots on grass. So if you have to practice in sand to work on your support, you also have to do it on grass. And then Sascha Zverev will learn too.”
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Like Daniil Medvedev on clay, Alexander Zverev has surely built up psychological obstacles on grass over time. And if he will perhaps never feel as comfortable there as on hard and on earth, it is up to him to convince himself that he can beat them down by tackling them with determination. Friday in the quarter in Halle, he will also face an opponent of the same size as him who showed, by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, that being tall was not prohibitive to shine.
If Zverev refines his slice and his volley, shots it is true that are less natural for him, he has all the assets – his quality of the first ball and his power in particular – to embody a real threat to the All England Club. Perhaps this relative lack of ambition on grass could be his most powerful ally. A way to completely get rid of the pressure to be able to better surprise.
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