Is Alexander Zverev fed up? If so, he doesn’t show it. But at each Grand Slam, the question comes up again. When, where and how will he, or can he, win his first major title? At 27, the German has still not found the answer. It turns around. Two finals to his credit, lost in five sets. Six semi-finals. Remarkable consistency. Reaching the final four of a Grand Slam eight times without ever going all the way is almost a form of achievement. In 2025, he tries his luck again. His best chance? The last one?
“This is a question that everyone in Germany asks and we talk about it a lot“, admits Boris Becker, still THE historical reference in German tennis and the last Grand Slam winner in his country (for men). It was in Melbourne, in 1996. He would like not to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his last coronation in a year without having found a successor.
“We all want to see him win a Grand Slam tournamenthe said about Zverev. He knocked on the door last year. In almost all the Grand Slam events, he was in the mix. But for some reason he hasn’t done it yet.” Now back at his best level and even perhaps a little beyond that after a year of reconstruction in 2023 following his terrible injury to his right ankle, he has the weapons. But there is always a but.
He’s not too old yet but…
After having, like (almost) everyone, been blocked by the insolent domination of the Big 3, Zverev must now face another problem: the combined takeover of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, winners between them of the four Grand Slam tournaments last season. “He no longer has to worry about Federer and Nadal, and a little less about Djokovic, relieves Becker. The problem is there’s Sinner and Alcaraz. If others arrive, and others are bound to arrive, it will become very complicated.”
Time is slowly starting to run out. How much time does he have left? In the podcast that he now co-hosts with Andrea Petkovic, the Eurosport consultant recently estimated that Sascha Zverev had around 18 months ahead of him. Until Roland-Garros 2026, basically. This is obviously for information only, there is no such radical expiry date, but he is still convinced that at a certain point, his compatriot’s chances will greatly diminish.
Forget: “Zverev can win a Major, but he will have to force his nature a little more”
Video credit: Eurosport
-“He is 27 years old. So he’s not yet too old to do it but beyond his age, he’s been fighting on the circuit for almost ten years, Becker explains. That’s the big question. When you’ve been fighting on the circuit for 12, 13, 14 years, if you still haven’t reached the goal you’ve been chasing for all these years, because you thought about victory at a very young age in Grand Slam, it becomes more difficult, especially mentally, to win your first Grand Slam.”
The clock is ticking
Alexander Zverev is not playing double duty in Melbourne. He has perhaps never been so strong, and barring injury, he will still have to be counted on at Roland Garros and the US Open. Nothing prevents us from imagining that he could perform well on grass (he was in the final in Halle at 19 and 20 years old) but the round of 16 seems to act as a glass ceiling for him at Wimbledon to this day.
“But the sooner the better for him and when he wins, we won’t have to talk about this problem anymore, so let’s make it happen quickly (laughing)“, continues the former world number one. The quest for power in the ATP rankings is another ambition that resides in Zverev. He can achieve this without winning the Grand Slam. It has already happened but the thing is extremely rare and he himself admitted at Bercy at the beginning of the year that “becoming number one without winning a Major is almost impossible and it wouldn’t even make much sense.”
Fritz once again had the last word against Zverev: the summary
Video credit: Eurosport
Zverev is not that far from Sinner and Alcaraz. His problem is that he is not untouchable against the rest of the world either. Medvedev stopped him in Melbourne last year. Fritz dominated him twice in quick succession at Wimbledon and New York, even adding a third layer at the Masters. There are many unknowns in the equation that the Hamburger is trying to solve. “I would say this year and even next year I think he will be in the mix again like he was last year. Beyond that, it will be much harder“, concludes Becker.
Barring a fate like Goran Ivanisevic, winner at the age of 30 of his first and only Grand Slam (Wimbledon 2001) when no one was counting on him, it is now that he must capitalize on his best years. The clock is ticking. The last chance alarm has not yet sounded. But for now, it is eternal regrets that taunt Zverev and await him around the corner.
