Alexander Zverev Reveals Conversation With his Team After Being Unable to Break Grand Slam Duck For 10 Years

Alexander Zverev defeated Matteo Berrettini in the second round of the Indian Wells Open.

Alexander Zverev Reveals Conversation With his Team After Being Unable to Break Grand Slam Duck For 10 Years

Alexander Zverev (Image via ATP)

In Short
  • Alexander Zverev has not won a Grand Slam despite being a top 5 player for 10 years.
  • He has reached three Grand Slam finals but lost each time, most recently at the 2024 French Open.
  • Zverev secured a victory over Matteo Berrettini at the Indian Wells Open, marking a positive shift in his performance.

The only significant silverware missing in Alexander Zverev’s trophy cabinet is a Grand Slam. The 28-year-old has come close to claiming one, thrice in his career, but has failed to do so, which leaves him among the consistent top 5 player since the Open Era not to win a major tournament in their careers.

The German star’s first opportunity of winning a Grand Slam came at the US Open in 2020. He was the youngest finalist (23 years old) since 2010 to reach the tournament’s championship match. But he fell to Dominic Thiem in five sets.

He had his second chance at the 2024 French Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal en route to the final. He failed yet again to win the title as he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets. Last year, he faced Jannik Sinner in the final of the Australian Open, but lost to the Italian star in straight sets.

Since then, he has not been at his best standards on the court. The closest he has come to reaching a final was this year’s Australian Open, where he crashed out in the semi-finals.

Despite skipping the Qatar Open and Rotterdam Open to defend his points at the Acapulco Open in Mexico, the World No.4 failed to get past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanović in the round of 16. The match highlighted Zverev’s struggle on the court and lack of confidence against top and lower-ranked players on tour.

Heading into the Indian Wells Open, he will need to make a shift in mindset to get a better result at the ATP Masters 1000 event. He will need to refine his game to be able to contend with top players in Grand Slam tournaments. He revealed during an interview with Tennis TV that he had to sit down with his team to understand the reason he had been unable to win a Grand Slam on tour:

I think me and my team we sit down and say we’ve been top 5 in the world for 10 years now but we haven’t achieved the single thing that we want to achieve. That’s the only thing remaining, so maybe our way isn’t working. We try to be more aggressive, take more risk, maybe take some losses like I did for Kecmanovic in Acapulco, but play the right way. I’m still very satisfied with how I started the year…

Zverev failed to get past the quarter-finals of the French Open last year and then crashed out in the first round of the Wimbledon Championship after losing to Arthur Rinderknech. At the US Open, he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. He will be aiming to do better at those even this season.

Alexander Zverev beats Matteo Berrettini in the Indian Wells Open

Alexander Zverev got back to winning ways at the Indian Wells Open on Friday (March 6). The German star produced a big-hitting display to get the better of Italian star Matteo Berrettini in the second round. Zverev hit 19 winners to just 11 unforced errors and did not face a break point in the match.

Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev (via ATP Tour)

He also won 82 percent of his second serve points to seal a 6-3, 6-4 win over Berrettini, sealing his place in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament at the California desert. During his on-court interview, he admitted that he was proud of his performance and the result, while praising his opponent:

I am very happy with the performance. Against Matteo, it is very difficult. I lost the past two matches against him. I have struggled in Indian Wells before, but I feel different this year. Hopefully, it is going to be a different result and it was a good start. He is somebody that is extremely aggressive, massive forehand, massive serve.

Zverev now leads Berrettini 5-3 in their head-to-head record and the victory over the Italian in Indian Wells was his first since the 2021 ATP Finals. Following Zverev’s triumph, he will face the winner between Brandon Nakashima and Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the fourth round of the tournament.

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