Alexander Zverev: 'Nothing worked ahead of Melbourne, not only my serve'

Alexander Zverev has been the leader of the new tennis generation, winning three Masters 1000 titles and the ATP Finals while finishing in the top-4 four two straight years. The German's luck changed in 2019, struggling to find his best tennis and lifting only one small title, doing enough to find himself at the ATP Finals again but losing the blade he had in the previous years. Things became even worse for the youngster at the ATP Cup at the beginning of the new season, losing all three matches and hitting the rock-bottom after a terrible performance on serve and with the elements of his game in general. Heading to Melbourne with no pressure or expectations, Zverev worked hard to reach the higher level, scoring five victories to advance into the first Major semi-finals, competing in two Roland Garros quarter-final in the past two years. In the quarter-final clash, Alexander made a slow start against Stan Wawrinka before beating the Swiss 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 19 minutes to book the spot in the last four where he will play Dominic Thiem on Friday.

Landing 80% of the first serve in, Zverev got broken three times and erased that deficit with five breaks on his tally, dominating after the opener and finishing the encounter with respectable 34 winners and 28 unforced errors. Wawrinka picked up an early break in the second game and extended the advantage to a 4-0 following a loose forehand from Zverev who was yet to find his strokes. Serving for the set, Wawrinka held with a service winner in game seven, standing strong so far and hoping for more of the same in the rest of the clash. With no room for further errors, Alexander started to play better from the second set, producing five perfect holds at love and stealing Stan's serve in the eighth game to move 5-3 up. Serving for the set, the youngster fired three winners to gain the momentum after 58 minutes, ignoring that terrible start and finding his best tennis in those moments.

They kicked off the third set with back-to-back breaks and it was Zverev who served well in the remaining games, mounting the pressure on the other side of the net and clinching a break at 2-2 when Stan netted a backhand slice. The Swiss saved two set points in the ninth game to prolong the set before the German held at 30 in the next game to move two sets to one in front, looking good to cross the finish line in the next game. Wawrinka couldn't do much in set number four as well, with nothing to work from on the return and two breaks he suffered to push Zverev over the top. Alexander broke in the first game thanks to a loose backhand from Wawrinka and grabbed another break in the third game after a backhand mistake from the Swiss who was drifting further and further away from a favorable result. A service winner sent the youngster 4-0 up, squandering break chances in the next game but sealing the deal on his serve at 5-2 to book the place in the semis, his first in a career at this level. 

"It feels fantastic to reach the first Major semi-final. I won other big tournaments like the ATP Finals and Masters 1000 events but I never could break that barrier at Slams. I'm happy to be in the semis, beating Stan who played a great tournament, taking down Daniil Medvedev in five sets. I want to thank everyone who has supported me; you can't imagine how much this means to me and I hope this is the first out of many semi-finals on the big scene for me. If I get to the final, it will be my most important day in a career; so far, it has to be the ATP Finals. I worked very hard on my serve before the Australian Open; the ATP Cup turned out to be a disaster for me and this is a Grand Slam and a place to play your best tennis, which I'm doing right now. I had struggled with pretty much everything in the previous weeks and months; it wasn't only my serve." 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2RJ0MmY