After finally breaking through for his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros at age 29, there were two questions associated with Alexander Zverev as he began his Wimbledon campaign.
Would he suffer an emotional come-down after the highs of Paris and have little left in the tank at SW19? Or, having been unshackled from the tag of ‘best player never to win a major’, would he swing freely and soar?
It’s the second of those questions he has answered with a resounding ‘yes’ this fortnight at the All England Club.
Already through to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, the German took another step toward a second straight major title thanks to a 6-4 6-4 6-2 domination of Taylor Fritz.
That result in itself was notable, given Fritz had won the pair’s last seven meetings, including at Wimbledon two years ago. But more broadly, confidence is clearly rippling through Zverev after improving his Grand Slam match winning streak to 12.
“I think winning Roland Garros definitely helps for sure. There's no question about it,” said the second seed.
“But I think, yeah, I changed my game a bit for grass. It's working quite well this year. My return position, my position generally on court, has changed.
“I tried it the last couple of years, but I never felt comfortable doing it. This year feels a bit different. Of course, I'm very pleased and very happy about that.”
Watching Zverev in Halle, he appeared to be more potent on grass, cracking his forehand with surprising venom en route to the semifinals, where he was stopped in three sets by Fritz.
By avenging that defeat to the American – who was unfortunately troubled by the return of knee issues – Zverev has advanced to semifinals at Wimbledon having won 15 of his 17 sets.
For all the tweaks he’s made to his grasscourt game, his success has been built on a weapon already in his arsenal: his serve.
Zverev has served extraordinarily well throughout this year’s Championships, landing at least 70 per cent of his first serves – an elite number – in all five of his victories so far.
His average first serve speed has increased during his last three matches, hitting 206km/h against Fritz.
On a surface that rewards aggressive serving, these first-serve percentages and speeds are nearly impossible to contend with. In the majority of his matches he has also struck more winners than unforced errors, while having impressive success advancing forward.
“Last year honestly I didn't have time to feel comfortable. I lost first round to a great opponent [Arthur Rinderknech], to somebody who served incredible. This year the difference is I played someone very similar in the first round [Alexander Blockx] and I won,” Zverev explained.
“After that, felt much better in the second round, better in the third round, and so on. Sometimes it's just a little bit of matches.
“I think it's also confidence. On grass, you need confidence to play well on this surface. I think the months before coming into Wimbledon, I think they just helped.”
All of these factors have combined to propel Zverev into a tour-leading ninth semifinal of 2026. His win over Fritz was his 43rd match win of the season – more than any other player – and he’s the only man to reach the semifinal stage at all three majors so far this year.
Having completed his set of all four Grand Slam semifinals, Zverev is now two wins from a unique piece of history: no man in the Open era has won a second major title in the very next Grand Slam tournament after winning his first.
Standing between him and a place in the Wimbledon final is 114th-ranked British wildcard Arthur Fery, the tournament’s Cinderella story.
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“I'm very happy to play him in the semifinals. I think it's going to be a great atmosphere,” Zverev said.
“Of course, I know that 99 per cent of the people will be cheering for him. But I also enjoy those kind of atmospheres. I enjoy when the energy is very high. For me, British crowds, the crowd here at Wimbledon, is always quite fair.
“They cheer loud, energetic, but they're still fair. I look forward to that challenge.”