Zverev zones in on zapping those opening-round jitters
CINCINNATI — He’s the hottest man in tennis after winning trophies at Montreal and Washington this month, but Alexander Zverev would like to escape his opening round without a scare for once.
The 20-year-old German, a career-best seventh in this week’s ATP rankings, could complete a hat-trick of titles this week at Cincinnati in the last major tune-up for the US Open, which starts on Aug 28 in New York.
Zverev’s opening matches in both championship runs were nail-biters, with Australia’s Jordan Thompson falling 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) at Washington and France’s Richard Gasquet squandering three match points in losing 6-3, 4-6 7-6 (3) at Montreal.
“I won both first rounds in Montreal and Washington 7-6 in the third and then after that I didn’t lose a set in the whole tournament,” Zverev said on Tuesday.
“I think winning those kinds of matches helps. It gives you a lot of confidence for the next few rounds.”
Zverev has captured five titles this year, taking Montpellier and Rome after being pushed to three sets in openers, and Munich, after dropping the first set but winning two tie-breakers in his second match against compatriot Jan-Lennard Struff.
“I feel good on the court,” Zverev said. “I feel very confident.”
On Wednesday, Zverev, who had a first-round bye, was due to open against 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe, a second-round loser in straight sets to the German at this year’s Wimbledon and the Australian Open in their only ATP meetings.
Due to injuries and withdrawls, the only player ranked above Zverev in the field is Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who will take over the world No 1 spot next week from Britain’s Andy Murray, who is sidelined with a hip injury.
Coming off his best Grand Slam run into the fourth round at Wimbledon, Zverev looks ready to make a deep run on the US Open hardcourts.
“I don’t put pressure on myself, but obviously I want to do well there,” he said.
“I know I’m in a position to do so. I just won back-to-back Masters events, so I know I can maybe have a good US Open.”
Zverev said better conditioning is the secret behind his rise in the past year.
“Physically I improved a lot. My serve improved and my returns improved. All small things.
“In general, my game has become quicker and faster, but that’s a lot to do with the physical part.”
On Tuesday, Zverev paired with 44-year-old Indian doubles legend Leander Paes and lost to Spain’s Feliciano and Marc Lopez 2-6, 7-6 (2), 10-6, in an action-packed match.
“He needs someone very high ranked to get in those tournaments. He asked me if I can help him out. I’m like, ‘Yeah, sure,’” Zverev said.
“I know Leander quite well. He’s a good guy. Unfortunately we lost, but it was fun.”
Zverev said in future his doubles appearances will be “not very often”.
Gamer, set and match
Zverev’s preferred way to pass the time during lulls at tournaments is to play Brazilian player Marcelo Melo in the FIFA 17 video game.
“I think winning in FIFA in the evenings is way important for me, just because mentally that helps me way more than winning Masters. Who cares about that really?” Zverev said with a smile.
He enjoys the challenge of playing with underdogs in the video game, while 33-year-old Melo selects big guns like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
“We play completely random,” Zverev said.
“Most of the time he gets something like a five-star team and I get an Arabic team which has one star. And I still beat him.”