Relaxed Zverev enters maiden Slam semi-finals
MELBOURNE: Alexander Zverev began 2020 with three consecutive losses, which meant he had plenty of problems—and plenty of time on his hands ahead of the Australian Open. So he showed up early and got to work, spending up to seven hours a day practising in the week before the decade’s first Grand Slam tournament. That extra time paid off. So did a somewhat more relaxed attitude once this event began. And how.
Zverev, a 22-year-old from Germany, reached his first major semi-final by overcoming a terrible start on Wednesday and putting together a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. “I was very impatient. In a way, also was maybe paying attention to it too much, to the Grand Slams. You know what I mean?” said Zverev, who has won three Masters titles and the ATP Tour Finals.
“Everything else, I was just playing better tennis at the other tournaments .... The Grand Slams, maybe, meant too much for me. This year I actually came into the Australian Open with absolutely no expectations because I was playing horrible.”
After ceding the opening set in 24 minutes, Zverev regrouped, using all of his 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) frame to get to balls along the baseline and stretch points until Wawrinka faltered.
Zverev’s sometimes-shaky serve—he was double-faulting once per game while losing all of his matches at the season-opening ATP Cup— was suddenly terrific, and Wawrinka’s barrelchested baseline bashing weakened.
How bad were things earlier in January for Zverev? “I’ve been struggling with my forehand, my backhand, my volleys, my drop shot, my return. My waking up in the morning. My everything,” he joked. “It was not only my serve.”
Zverev also was self-deprecating before his first-round match last week, saying that he knew no one considered him a favourite. After his opening victory, he pledged to donate all of the champion’s prize money—about $2.85 million—to relief efforts for the wildfires raging around the country if he were to go all the way. He has just two matches to go now.
Wawrinka’s backhand is among the most respected and feared shots in all of men’s tennis. But it let him down on this day: He finished with five winners and 31 errors on that side, 18 unforced and 13 forced. “After one set and a half, for sure, I was going a bit down physically,” Wawrinka said. “Also lack of energy.”
It all added up to Zverev getting to the final four at a major in his 19th appearance. He had been 0-2 in quarterfinals.
“The Grand Slams were always the week where I kind of even wanted it too much. I was doing things, in a way, too professional. I was not talking to anybody. I wasn’t going out with friends. I wasn’t having dinner. I was just really almost too, too focused,” Zverev explained. “Changed that a little bit this week. I’m doing much more things outside the court.”