Everything as always? Yes and no. Alexander Zverev was once again the last German professional in the field of a Grand Slam tournament and he stayed true to his “weight class” in his seventh Wimbledon participation. Round 1 and the round of 16, so the end of the third round this year is business as usual, home cooking instead of fine dining.
And yet the Olympic champion can take a lot with him from London.
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The serve, for example, which is even more important on grass than on other surfaces, was consistently precise. Point odds over first were high against Gijs Brouwer (79%) as well as Yosuke Watanuki (84%) and Matteo Berrettini (82%). In addition, Zverev served 20, 13 and 12 aces and only gave up his serve twice in three games.
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He managed to adapt his game to the peculiarities of the sacred turf. At 1.98 m, he was actually too tall for this, Zverev had emphasized in the run-up to the event – but it was clear that he was having fun on the green and was consistently looking for his way to the net. The former number two in the world appeared there a total of 75 times, securing the point 49 times.
The 3: 6, 6: 7 (4: 7), 6: 7 (5: 7) defeat against Berrettini classified the Hamburger as one of his “best matches” in Wimbledon. Zverev kept eight out of 17 service games against the 2021 Wimbledon finalist, taking just three points less than the winner overall. “I have no problem losing such a match,” explained Zverev afterwards. Seriously? He, who judges himself and his team so severely when he fails, is not bothered by the defeat. “Matches where I have the feeling that I’m losing them myself annoy me,” said the world number 21. explanatory after. Because of his performance, however, he “can’t blame himself much”.
You can see it that way, because Berrettini, one of the best grass players on the tour at his best, played close to his top level and maintained it for the entire duration of the match.
Zverev: Three matches in 57 hours
All in all, Zverev can be satisfied with a week at Wimbledon, although strictly speaking a three-day short trip to the British capital would have been enough.
Due to numerous postponements and rain breaks, the German played his three games within three days – almost 57 hours lay between the first serve and the last rally.
Alexander Zverev in Wimbledon
Fotocredit: Getty Images
He handled the puzzle surprisingly well. After a three-set success against the world number 153. Brouwer at the start, however, the Zverev camp was dangerously negligent against Watanuki.
Zverev counts his own team: “Leaning back a bit”
The preparations for the duel with the lucky loser from Japan were sloppy. “Everyone leaned back a bit. You can’t do that in a Grand Slam. I had a bit of a neck on my box,” Zverev publicly counted on his entourage.
The reason: The serve strength of the world number 116. he massively underestimated because he didn’t know about it. It was only “when four aces rushed by at 320 km/h” that he understood what the hour had struck.
Watanuki promptly got the second set. And even if brother Mischa tried to keep the incident small on “Sky” (“We told him: ‘Sascha, he’s a lucky loser and not a top ten, at some point he’ll make a mistake.’ And that’s how it happened .”), surprised the lack of professionalism in this regard.
Berrettini shows Zverev at Big Points limits
Zverev also had room for improvement in terms of cleverness in the so-called big points. This was the reason he failed to score a set against Berrettini. “Matteo played better in the important moments,” admitted Zverev.
All in all, he did what was to be expected of him on Church Road. If there were school grades in the All England Club, the report card would probably be a 3. By definition, this is awarded “when the performance generally meets the requirements”.
It would be censorship that Zverev could live with, especially since the home tournament continues on the Hamburg sand and then on hard court. Surfaces on which he feels much more comfortable.
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2023-07-09 19:11:00
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