Alexander Zverev captured his maiden major singles title at this year’s Roland Garros and backed the emphatic result up with a runner-up finish at Wimbledon. However, despite the German’s remarkable recent results, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes he is still a fair distance away from reigning World No. 1 Jannik Sinner as well as Carlos Alcaraz, who has been out of action for months now with a wrist injury.
Zverev needed five sets to overcome Flavio Cobolli in Paris and then suffered a four-set loss to Sinner in the Wimbledon final. According to Mouratoglou, the aggressive brand of tennis the German showed at the French Open, and more particularly at Wimbledon, can’t be expected from him on a consistent basis.
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The Frenchman, who led the legendary Serena Williams to ten of her 23 singles major championships, said:
“Zverev is on the right path, but is he there? I don’t think so, not yet. It’s a big milestone for him to win his first Grand Slam and be in the final of the next one, especially clay and grass. He has definitely reached another level. Is he at the level of Alcaraz and Sinner yet? I don’t think so. And even though he played some of his best tennis in the final and Sinner was not at his best, he still didn’t win it.”
Mouratoglou added:
“And for him to be able to play aggressively with consistency and efficiency, he has to show that he is able to do this over and over again until it becomes a second nature. Otherwise, he starts for example the US swing and he knows he’s going to beat those other guys because he has margin, he starts to again control from the baseline, not be so aggressive, it will show that he didn’t really make the step up. He needs to practise this every single match, which he hasn’t done yet.”
“Something has to be working” – Alexander Zverev’s positivity despite Wimbledon final heartbreak
Following his four-set defeats at the hand of Jannik Sinner in this year’s Wimbledon final, Alexander Zverev managed to remain upbeat citing his much-improved finish at the grass major compared to his past campaigns there.
“The more I do it (play aggressively), the better I’ll become hopefully. I won a Grand Slam for the first time in my career in Paris. I made it to the finals here for the first time in my career. Of course, something has to be working. Is it perfect yet? No. But I think we’re going towards the right direction with it,” Alexander Zverev told reporters during a post-match press conference.
Zverev, Sinner and Alcaraz are all expected to play significant roles in the upcoming North American hard-court swing. Alcaraz, a former No. 1 as well as a seven-time major champion, missed both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.
Edited by Sudipto Pati