French Open preview: Alexander Zverev. The German tennis player hasn’t followed his form from last year yet, what will he show at Rolland Garros?

The turn of May and June is reserved in the tennis world for the French Open. The second Grand Slam of the season is hosted by Paris and the Musketeers’ Cup is traditionally contested by the world’s top players. Let’s take a look at the biggest favourites for the only clay grand slam on the circuit. Let’s start with Alexander Zverev.

The first round of Roland Garros will begin on Sunday, May 28. One name, however, has had the media and fans’ attention for many weeks. Yes, it is Rafael Nadal, the record holder for the most titles at the Paris Grand Slam.

The 14-time champion made his definitive statement on Thursday, and we have space today for the player Nadal advanced to the final over last year. Although in that duel, the late champion won only one set.

Alexander Zverev

Zverev presents himself with attacking tennis. His forehand and backhand have excellent quality and especially the latter is considered to be the German’s very strong weapon.

With a height of almost two meters, he can serve very powerfully, but due to his weaker second serve, Zverev is not among the very best in this activity. He also has a reserve in the use of stopballs, which can be very beneficial shots on clay.

The German tennis player has already played many matches at the Paris Grand Slam and in his last two appearances here he made it to the semi-finals. A year ago, he played a match against Nadal here at this stage of the tournament.

That match was one of the highlights of last year’s Roland Garros. It lasted almost three hours without the players being able to finish the second set. Before it was finished, however, the Hamburg native suffered a nasty injury.

He was clearly feeling good in the match, which he later confirmed when he said that he felt he could have won the duel against Nadal. Let us add that Zverev’s injury occurred before the start of the second tiebreak, with Nadal winning the first set in a shortened game.

In the final, Nadal had already lost only six games against Nora Ruud, so it would certainly be interesting to watch the further development of the Nadal vs. Zverev semifinal.

Will Zverev allay Becker’s fears?

Yes, Zverev was close to the top a year ago. Now the situation is a bit different and Boris Becker has made an interesting comment. The Olympic champion and three-time Wimbledon champion is worried about his compatriot’s chances. Tennis, according to him, changes every 18 months and Zverev has missed the train a bit.

The former professional tennis player believes that the former world number two is 100 per cent physically fit, but many younger tennis players are already getting above the level of the almost two-metre tall German in the quality of their performance.

Becker included Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in this group of young wolfmen. According to Becker, Alexander Zverev is definitely not among the biggest favourites of the French Open at the moment.

Current form

Zverev’s results on clay this year are as similar as eggs to eggs. The German tennis player has participated in tournaments in Monte Carlo, Munich, Madrid and Rome and has dropped out in the eighth finals everywhere.

The comparison with last year is interesting. Back then, Zverev played the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Rome, and even made it to the final in Madrid. So this year’s results here confirm Becker’s words. So far, they are a shadow of the results before the injury.

Let’s focus on the last matches of the currently twenty-second player in the ATP rankings a little more specifically. Twice the German tennis player lost to the world number three Daniil Medvedev. In Monte Carlo, he came close to advancing, losing to the Russian 6::3, 5::7, 6::7. In the rematch a few days ago in Rome, Zverev did not even win a set and lost 2: 6, 6: 7.

The loss to the upset Alcaraz in Madrid was not a surprise, but the defeat to the Australian O’Connell in Munich was unexpected. There, the tiebreak of the first set was crucial, which the German lost. Tiebreaks are a weakness of the 2020 US Open finalist. He has lost seven of the last eight shortened games.

Among the clay wins of the 18-time ATP tournament winner recently, we find mainly players from the second half of the elite 100 of the rankings. The most valuable is the progression over the experienced Spaniard Bautista-Agut in Monte Carlo. He is in the top ten of the ATP rankings. Of the ten duels on the slowest surface that Zverev has played this year, he has won six of them.

Finally…

Zverev has not yet returned to the level of last spring. Also the poor results in the decisive parts of the matches speak against the German tennis player. He will be among the seeded players and should confirm his quality in the opening rounds.

It will be a huge challenge for him to advance to the semi-finals of Roland Garros for the third time and maybe take one step further. But at the same time, this scenario is not very likely.

Sources: ATP, Eurosport