Alexander Zverev is looking forward to his quarter-finals Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open – and feels ready for the Spanish superstar despite different signs.
from SID
last edited: January 23, 2024, 5:30 p.m
Alexander Zverev believes he still has enough fuel in the tank for the match against Carlos Alcaraz.
Alexander Zverev played a round of Mario Kart on his day off and cared for the “blood blisters” on his battered feet, then the Olympic tennis champion focused full of determination on the cracking duel with Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
“I’m not in the same condition as at the US Open. I’m not dead. I expect it to be a completely different game,” said Zverev before the showdown on Wednesday (around 11 a.m. CET/Eurosport) in the Rod Laver Arena. After major fluctuations in performance, the Hamburger is the underdog against the Wimbledon winner; so far he has been on the court in Melbourne for five hours longer than the confident Alcaraz. But it shouldn’t fail because of the strength.
He still had “100 percent” fuel in his tank before the duel, assured Zverev, who once again had to push himself to the limit in the five-set thriller in the round of 16 against Briton Cameron Norrie in over four hours of play.
Zverev was in a similar situation at the US Open in New York in the fall, where he also left a lot of energy during the tournament and had no chance against Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. This should be different now. “If you play less, you’re fresher. But I feel good,” assured Zverev, who is aiming for the second semi-final of his career at the first Grand Slam of the year.
And the 26-year-old doesn’t have to look far for motivation either. “Playing a quarter-final against Rod Laver, second in the world rankings, gives you extra energy,” emphasized Zverev, who has a positive record of four wins from seven games against Alcaraz.
This is also why Alcaraz is warned. In the last meeting so far at the ATP Finals in November, the German number one had the upper hand. “He’s a great player. It’s always a tough fight, I have to play at my best level,” said Alcaraz, who is still going into the quarter-finals “with a lot of self-confidence”: “I feel better every day.”
Zverev knows how difficult the task is against the 20-year-old exceptional player. At the end of the day, “you would like to play the whole tournament against someone who is 120 in the world,” said Zverev humorously at Eurosport, but “only the best players are still here.”
Zverev is one of these as number six in the world, but in Melbourne he has so far failed to prove his top class. It’s different on the console, where with Mario Kart “it doesn’t matter who plays against me. Nobody has a chance,” said Zverev. He still has to earn this status on the tennis court – and can start doing so against Alcaraz.
Here is the individual tableau in Melbourne
2024-01-23 16:30:00
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