Australian Open – Round of 16 – Alexander Zverev? So far, so good…

Margaret Court Arena, Friday afternoon. Alexander Zverev has just qualified for the round of 16 by beating Jacob Fearnley in three sets. There are still several hours before the night session begins on the court. So Zverev takes the opportunity to stay there hitting forehands along the line. His brother Mischa throws the ball at him like a machine and like a pianist practicing his scales, the world number 2 hits, again and again.

Those who remember the Rolex Paris Masters last fall will not be surprised. After each match, there was already an hour left to train once he had qualified. This brought him luck since he lifted the trophy at Bercy at the end of the week. “On a sporting level, I think it makes senseexplains Boris Becker. He needs to play. In matches and in training. He has a day off between each match and he often finishes quickly and early. So these workouts really make sense for him.”

For now, everything is going well for the German in Melbourne, even if he knows full well that at this stage of his career, he will be judged solely on whether or not he can lift the trophy at the end of the fortnight. There he is. It's make or break. There can hardly be an in-between. He didn't come for a third final or yet another half. For now, he is flawless. But the Australian Open is not to be won now.

“For the moment, his performance is encouraging I find“, however, notes Philipp Kohlschreiber, also a consultant on Eurosport Germany. He has sometimes experienced difficulties in the first rounds of Grand Slams against less elite players, but so far, he is progressing without any problem. Three matches and three victories in three sets against Lucas Pouille (6-4, 6-4, 6-4), Pedro Martinez (6-1, 6-4, 6-1) and Jacob Fearnley (6-3, 6-4, 6-4) and 6h17 spent on the court in these three matches combined.

“I am quite satisfied with my level of play, especially from the baseline. For now, I have no reason to complain“, he judged about his provisional notebook. But we can sense it, he is waiting for what comes next. He is no longer satisfied with completing the first laps like pearls at high speed, even if it is true that this was his guilty pleasure for a long time and that he sometimes paid in the second week for the energy wasted excessively in the first days. It is no longer really there, but it remains a necessary prerequisite.

“It leaves much less energy on the road than in the past, note Boris Becker. This is important, it will be fresher in the second week. Maintaining energy is a prerequisite if he wants to finally win a Grand Slam tournament. With his physical trainer, Jez Green, he really focused on fitness during the off-season because Sascha realized that he was sometimes more tired than his opponents at the end of the fortnight..”

On the evening of his defeat in the Roland-Garros final last year against Carlos Alcaraz, in five sets, after leading two sets to one, it was on this aspect of things that Zverev insisted, when many point out his mental flaws . “Maybe I need to review my preparation, especially on a physical level, he confided. Tennis-wise, I felt like I was playing well, at least as well as him for three sets. And then I slowed down a lot afterwards.“

This time, everything seems in place for him to hold out until the end, even if it's still too early to have the answer. Sunday, he begins the second phase of his Australian Open. Facing Ugo Humbert, the difficulty goes up a notch, even if the still fresh memory of their one-sided final at Bercy may suggest the opposite. The context is different. Humbert's degree of freshness is undoubtedly also. But if Zverev stays in line with what he has been producing since this fall, he must be a cut above again. We only wish Lorraine happiness, but Zverev has no right to stop there if he really imagines himself one day as a Grand Slam winner.