Is AO 2025 finally Zverev’s time?

As far as active players go, Alexander Zverev is surely the best of those yet to win a Grand Slam. But he is out to change that at Australian Open 2025.

While Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz look well placed to vie for dominance over the next decade, and Novak Djokovic is still flying the flag for ‘the big three’, Zverev – the world No.2 – is yet to translate his vast potential into major triumph.

MORE: All the results from AO 2025

Zverev has won 106 of his 141 Grand Slam matches, giving him a 75.1% win percentage – that is the best win ratio of any player in the Open era not to win a major.

And though he faces Djokovic next, Zverev’s Grand Slam wait surely has to end at some point. Why could it not happen at AO 2025?

The 27-year-old, whose trophy haul includes two ATP Finals triumphs and an Olympic gold medal, has gone agonisingly close at the majors, reaching two finals.

He lost in five sets to Dominic Thiem at US Open 2020, and then again went the distance in a defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros last year.

Overall, since he reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at AO 2020, Zverev has reached the last four of at least one of the majors every year.

Zverev's deep runs at the Grand Slams

Across the last five years, only Djokovic (14) has reached more Grand Slam semifinals than Zverev (nine).

Zverev has reached at least the quarterfinals in six of the last nine Grand Slams he has competed in since the start of the 2023 season. The only major he has never reached the last eight in is Wimbledon.

Friday’s semifinal against Djokovic, who overcame Alcaraz in that remarkable quarterfinal contest that ran into the early hours of Wednesday morning, will be Zverev’s third appearance in the last four at Melbourne Park.

Zverev is no stranger to long matches, although at AO 2025 he breezed through his opening three matches, dispatching Lucas Pouille, Pedro Martinez and Jacob Fearnley in straight sets.

Ugo Humbert presented a sterner challenge in the fourth round, but Zverev negotiated it 6-1 2-6 6-3 6-2.

The German was not happy with how he performed in Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Tommy Paul, going as far as to say he “stole” the first two sets against the American, who forced it to a fourth. Ultimately, though, the second seed got the job done 7-6(1) 7-6(0) 2-6 6-1.

It means he has still only dropped two sets all tournament, while he became the first player to drop just one point across successive tie-breaks at the AO, from the quarterfinals onwards, since 1990. The previous such record was held by Ivan Lendl, who dropped three points in consecutive tiebreaks against Goran Prpic in 1991.

Zverev was also the first player to win a tiebreak 7-0 in the quarterfinals onwards at the AO since Andy Roddick in 2004, against Marat Safin.

No other German player has managed as many AO match wins as Zverev’s tally of 30, with his victory over Paul taking him past the great Boris Becker (29). The AO is the second major where the 27-year-old has won 30 matches, after Roland Garros (34).

Becker (163) is the only German player to have won more men’s singles matches at the majors than Zverev, who has now overtaken Tommy Haas’ tally of 105. Zverev is the first German in the Open era to reach consecutive AO semifinals.

Of players born since the start of 1990, Daniil Medvedev can match Zverev’s nine major semifinal appearances. Medvedev beat Zverev in the last four at AO 2024.

This time around, it is Djokovic who stands in Zverev’s way of a maiden AO final.

The Serbian holds an 8-4 career record against Zverev, who has lost all three of his major meetings with Djokovic, including an AO 2021 quarterfinal.

But Zverev is bang in form having beaten multiple top 20 players at a Slam for only the fourth time in his career. His time might just be now.