The German Alexander Zverev (2nd), who on Tuesday became the player from his country to have won the most matches in history at the Australian Open ahead of Boris Becker, stressed that his compatriot had won the tournament twice, a “much greater” accomplishment.
By winning his 30th victory against the American Tommy Paul (11th) in Melbourne, Zverev became the sole holder of the record for matches won by a German in the first Grand Slam of the season, one unit ahead of Becker (29).
But “Boum-Boum” won six Grand Slam titles (including the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996), unlike Zverev who is still looking for his first at 27 years old.
“Of course, I am happy to be cited among the great players of German tennis,” Zverev said at a press conference. But it’s lifting the trophy that really interests me,” added the Hamburger, triple semi-finalist in Melbourne (2020, 2024, 2025) and double finalist in major tournaments (US Open 2020 and Roland-Garros 2024).
-“The big difference is that Boris has lifted this trophy twice, I haven’t yet. From my point of view, it is more important than the number of matches won,” concluded Zverev, who will face Carlos Alcaraz (3rd) or Novak Djokovic (7th) in the last four.
If he wins on Sunday in his tenth appearance at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev would become the player who has needed the greatest number of attempts before winning in Melbourne since the start of the Open era in 1968. The record is so far jointly held by Petr Korda (1998) and Stanislas Wawrinka (2014), winners in their ninth participation.
The last German player to win a Grand Slam trophy was Boris Becker, at the Australian Open in 1996. Among the ladies, Angelique Kerber won Wimbledon in 2018, after winning the Australian Open and the US Open in 2016.
