In the dying embers of the 2018 season, on the eve of the ATP Tour Finals in London, Alexander Zverev was worn out and ready for his year to be over. Frustrated by his scratchy form coming in and with the finish line in sight, he decided to try something different.
“I came to London before, and I wasn't playing my best,” the world No.4 said. “I’d lost to [Karen] Khachanov [in Paris], 6-2 6-1. I’d lost to other guys. I really wasn't playing well. I came to London saying, ‘Look, it's the last tournament of the year, we're all tired, you want to go on holidays. I want to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm playing the best players in the world, I'm going to see how it goes.’
“At the end of the week, I won the tournament. I learned out of that – I kind of figured out I have to have the same mentality when I play at Slams. I hope I can achieve that.”
A stress-free Slam? It’s a novel approach, especially for a player who was already being earmarked as a future champion before he exited his teens.
Now 21, that praise becomes a source of pressure with each passing major, particularly for a top-four seed who is yet to reach the final four at a Grand Slam. How to best handle that pressure? It’s a question Zverev is still seeking the answer to.
“Look, I always enjoy playing. I always enjoy competing, playing the sport that I love,” he said. “There's always a lot of pressure to it, always the question of, ‘When are you going to win a Grand Slam?’
“I don't put any [pressure] on me actually, to be honest. I've never been past the third round, so we'll see how it goes. But I just want to enjoy being here. I just want to enjoy playing as much as I can. I just want to enjoy playing in the biggest stadiums, playing in the biggest matches.
“Once I learn how to really enjoy it and really find fun in what I do, I think everything else will take care of itself.”
Twinned with Zverev’s devil-may-care calm heading into his first-round encounter with Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene is the downplaying of concerns about two pre-tournament injuries – first the hamstring strain that forced him to withdraw from Adelaide, and the ankle sprain suffered during a practice session at Melbourne Park.
“The ankle is fine,” he insisted. “It's just a little bit swollen. I didn't actually twist it, I just kind of went over it a little bit. A bone pushed against another bone; there was inflammation between those two bones. I'm fine.
“I'm going to play with the tape. It's just a little bit uncomfortable, but it's nothing that can get worse or anything like that. I'm actually quite relaxed about it.”