ATP Rival Calls Alexander Zverev-Ben Shelton US Open Final ‘Mediocre’

Tallon Griekspoor believes nerves got the better of Ben Shelton, which is why he started committing errors during the US Open final against Alexander Zverev. Shelton, in his first Grand Slam final, lost in four sets, and the victory made Sascha a two-time Grand Slam champion.

Griekspoor found it hard to watch Zverev because of his service routine. The 29-year-old bounces the ball too many times before serving, something that annoyed Karen Khachanov during their quarterfinal match. There’s no 25-second time limit for the second serve, and Shelton called the rule “stupid” after his exit.

I expected it against Shelton. The precedents were obviously already clearly in favor of Zverev. I found the match rather mediocre. Shelton played very inconsistently and gave away two or three free points per game. You see what a first Slam final can do to a player. Zverev wasn’t exceptional, but he served really well. The second-set tie-break was crucial.

Tallon Griekspoor told De Telegraaf

Even Boris Becker was startled by Zverev’s ball bouncing, admitting the same on his Becker Petkovic podcast. Except for this aspect of Zverev’s game, Becker believes his compatriot did everything perfectly.

There were other sports going on, and I simply have a hard time watching Zverev. Especially in this tournament, where he bounced the ball 400 times before every serve. It was really extreme, but it obviously helped him. Maybe I should do the same.

Tallon Griekspoor added

The Dutchman last played at the US Open, where he took the first set off Shelton in the first round before losing in four sets. Griekspoor, however, has met Zverev 12 times, winning only three, including their last meeting in the second round of this year’s Canadian Open.

Taylor Fritz praises Alexander Zverev’s ability to stay healthy

Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz have met 16 times so far, with the latter winning 10 of these matches. It was after seven consecutive defeats that Zverev finally ended his losing streak, winning their last meeting in the quarterfinals of this year’s Wimbledon.

At the US Open, the home favorite, also the runner-up here in 2024, lost in the third round, failing to capitalize on his two-set lead against Francisco Cerundolo. It was the first time since his first-round exit in 2022 that Fritz failed to make a deep run in his home Slam.

This season, he made a deep run in Majors only at Wimbledon. He has so far played four finals this season, losing in Dallas and Stuttgart to Ben Shelton, in Halle to Frances Tiafoe, but won in Washington by beating Rafael Jodar.

Since the start of the season, Fritz has been playing through a knee niggle, though it didn’t affect him much during his US Open run. He recently appeared on The Big T Podcast, during which he praised Zverev’s ability to stay healthy.

I think for me the biggest thing is remaining healthy. I think that’s one thing that I think Sascha has done so well throughout the years, outside of that one ankle injury. He’s never really missing events. I feel like he’s done such a good job of staying healthy. And then that’s where you can really train a lot and play a lot and then find that level of just really high-level, consistent tennis that he’s been able to produce for so long.

Zverev also won the French Open, beating Flavio Cobolli, ending his Grand Slam title drought. He then reached the Wimbledon final and lost it to Jannik Sinner.

Also read: Toni Nadal Believes Ben Shelton Would’ve Become One of Carlos Alcaraz’s ‘Biggest Rivals’ Had He Won US Open