Germany Davis Cup Captain Believes Alexander Zverev Has “Slightly Caught Up” with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Alexander Zverev’s recent performances have been incredible. The German star has climbed to World No.2 in the ATP rankings after back-to-back Grand Slam finals on tour. His country’s Davis Cup captain, Michael Kohlmann, has revealed that Zverev has caught up with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on tour.

Having finished as runner-up in his first three Grand Slam finals, Zverev finally got his hands on the big titles at Paris. The World No.2 defeated Flavio Cobolli in five sets to win his maiden Grand Slam at the French Open, becoming the first German since Boris Becker in 1996 to win a major title on tour.

High in confidence after his Roland Garros triumph, Zverev made it past the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career. He reached the final of the tournament and won the opening set against Sinner. But he couldn’t stop the Italian star from pulling off a comeback as the German lost in four sets.

In Zverev’s last 16 matches on tour, he has lost just two, both coming on the grass court. In the absence of Alcaraz, he has become the major player dubbed to challenge Sinner on tour as Novak Djokovic continues to show that he cannot match the Italian star’s level. However, Zverev doesn’t have a good record against Sinner and Alcaraz on tour.

In fact, he has not defeated Sinner in almost three years on tour. The Italian star leads him 11-4 in their record meetings, having won nine consecutive matches against the 29-year-old, including the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz leads Zverev 7-6 in their head-to-head record on tour. However, Kohlmann revealed on Ran.joyn.de that Zverev’s recent performances on tour have shown that he has slightly reached Sinner and Alcaraz level:

This kind of assessment is always a bit tricky. Personally, I never thought he was far behind them. But I do believe that Sinner and Alcaraz had a slight advantage in recent years – mainly because they won the really big matches and often the head-to-head encounters as well. My impression is that he’s now caught up. I even think that he was slightly ahead at times during the last two months.

Zverev will hope to get the better of Alcaraz or Sinner during the North American hard-court swing, which begins next week. However, Zverev and Sinner are likely to kick off their swing at the Canadian Masters, while Alcaraz continues his recovery from a wrist injury he suffered in April at Barcelona.

Michael Kohlmann says Alexander Zverev felt relieved after winning the French Open

Alexander Zverev admitted that he felt under pressure at the French Open last month. The German star was regarded before his Roland Garros triumph as one of the most talented players to have not won a major tournament. But this season, he has reached the semi-finals of all Grand Slams, which is by far his best performance in big events in the past three years.

Zverev failed to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament this year just once, and that came at the Acapulco Open in February. He did reach the Madrid Open championship match but lost the title to Jannik Sinner. During the aforementioned interview, Michael Kohlmann pointed out that Zverev felt relieved after winning his maiden Slam at the French Open:

When you achieve your big goals, it can give you an extra boost. Of course, pressure could have built up. But I had the impression that an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. You could already see that in the French Open final, where he had to overcome some difficult phases. When that burden was finally gone, I expected it to have a positive effect.

Zverev has won just one title this season; he will hope to add more to his tally as the season progresses. The last time he won more than five titles, including the Tokyo Olympics gold medal, was in 2021. That year he won the Cincinnati Open and Madrid Masters. The Cincinnati tournament kicks off on August 13.

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