The past fortnight has played out as a voyage of discovery for Alexander Zverev. From a 22-year-old unsure of his ability on the biggest stages of all, to a player who came within a mere handful of points of making his first Grand Slam final.
Zverev has long been cast as the crown prince in waiting, the player destined to eventually replace the big three as the king of tennis. It’s a crown which has weighed heavily on the young German’s shoulders, especially in the majors where it counts most. But while his Australian Open run finally came to an end at the hands of Dominic Thiem and his thunderbolt of a backhand, there is a sense that Zverev has finally unlocked the secret to what it takes to perform on the biggest stage of all.
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He himself attributes a lot of to his mental approach to the tournament, and adhering that old adage of ‘one match at a time.’
“I went here in a different way,” he said, after his 3-6 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(4) defeat to Thiem.
“I went match by match. Didn't look very far. I just knew I had opponents in front of me. I had to play well to beat them. Whenever I won, I'd sit down in the locker room and somebody told me who I'm playing next. The Verdasco, Rublev matches I thought I started playing really well. From then on I played great tennis.”
But it wasn’t simply a mental adjustment. For one thing, his serving over the course of the fortnight has been consistently outstanding – he averaged 81 per cent first serves against Thiem – a miraculous transformation from the player who double faulted with abandon during the ATP Cup at the start of January.
“I practiced a lot,” Zverev said simply.
“I've spent hours on that shot. So at some point I knew it had to come back.”
Admittedly Friday night’s semifinal was one which got away. While Thiem’s consistent aggression eventually paid dividends in the tiebreaks, Zverev had his chances, particularly in a desperately tight third set where he converted just one of six break points.
“I had 14 break points,” he said, reflecting on the match.
“That should be plenty. In the important moments, I didn't play my best. He did. That's where the match kind of went his way. We've had a lot of tight moments, four tight sets. In the third set I had set points. In the fourth set, I had chances. Just got to execute better next time. But credit to him. He's playing unbelievable tennis right now.”
At times Zverev proved to be an impassable wall from the back of the court with the sheer quality of his defence – particularly on the backhand wing - pushing Thiem to the limits of his shot-making abilities over the course of the encounter.
The German stated he felt that the level the two produced was higher than their semifinal clash at the ATP Finals a couple of months ago, and paid tribute to Thiem for transforming his hard court game over the past year.
"He flattens his shot out much more,” he explained.
“Before he was a complete clay court player. A lot of movement, a lot of running around, stuff like that. Now he has a complete hard court game, he's a much different and much better player.”
Much will depend on Thiem’s fitness after two gruelling matches in succession, as to whether he can challenge Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final, but Zverev insisted that the Austrian has a chance.
“I think he has a chance,” he said.
“He's playing the best tennis of his life. I do believe he's playing good enough.”