Alexander Zverev: The difficult years of the German tennis star

Also this summer there will be nothing with the big throw for Alexander Zverev. On the contrary: Wimbledon became an embarrassment for Germany’s tennis star. Already in the first round he had to delete the sail against the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. To discard number 72 as a world number third-the German tennis star had certainly imagined it differently. Like so much in recent years.

After the Wimbledon fiasco, Zverev gave a rare look into his soul and spoke openly about mental problems. He feels “very, very alone” in life, he lacks the joy outside the tennis court. According to his own statement, he also takes a therapy into account: “Something in me has to change, something that is not necessarily on the tennis court.”

Alexander Zverev has been the undisputed best tennis player in Germany for years. So far, the 28-year-old has only been at the top internationally: on the podium at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. There Zverev won the gold medal. A nice success-but what counts in tennis are the Grand Slam tournaments. And Zverev is still at zero titles.

Because even if he kept involved in the top of the world: the demands that fans, media and he also placed on him, the Hamburg could not meet. Instead, in the crucial moments, the nerves failed that Zverev sometimes seemed arrogant and arrogant on the outside. In addition, there were injuries and a private up and down.

Zverev stood in the Grand Slam tournament final three times in the past five years-all endgames have been lost. In 2020 he lost to the Austrian Dominic Thiem at the US Open. In 2024, Zverev led the French Open against Carlos Alcaraz after three sets, but then collapsed completely. And this year he came into the final of the Australian Open almost without a fight because Novak Djokovic had to give up injured in the semi -finals – just to lose three sets against Jannik Sinner.

“I’m just not good enough,” said Zerev almost fatalistically after the defeat against Sinner. “I certainly don’t want to end my career as the best player who has never won a Grand Slam.” If it is about to take the crucial step, it seems that the nervousness begins with Hamburg. “When it comes to the big moments, he lacks to be courageous and aggressive, take the risk of taking the match,” analyzed the prominent French tennisman Patrick Mouratoglou, why Zverev still lacks a Grand Slam. But even in Australia, the final performance seemed to be the problem of the 28-year-old. Because: He has had the mental problems since the Australian Open, reported a visibly bent Zverev after the Wimbledon-Aus.

But the tennis player is not always so self -critical. Fans have been mocked by fans for a long time, Zverev finds a new excuse after every defeat. The weather, the balls, referees or spectators were to blame for setbacks – just not Zverev itself.

At the quarter-finals in Roland Garros against Novak Djokovic it was too cold for him, at the tournament in Milan he said: “The balls were a joke.” Early failure at tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, Zverev pushed on an unusual racket. And after leaving his hometown of Hamburg, Zverev said: “I thought that I made 37 times and had 39.4 fever all night, quite okay. I was two points away from winning the match. There is a lot to be said for me.”

Zverev also regularly laid down with the referees and thus opened side locations that are detrimental to concentration on the square. His outbreak of outbreak in Acapulco 2022 is legendary when he hit the referee chair with his racket after a double defeat. Zverev was filled by the ATP with a fine and an eight -week lock and later spoke of the worst moment of his career.

In addition to the tennis court, Zverev also delivered negative headlines at times: two ex-girlfriends accused him of beating them, the allegations were in the room for years. In one case, the process for assault was terminated against payment of a money requirement of 200,000 euros. Another case was never reported to the police, the ATP set its investigation due to lack of evidence. Zverev has been lined up with moderator Sophia Thomalla for almost four years.

The tennis star had a special relationship with Boris Becker over the years. For a long time, Zverev was guided to be able to step into the huge footsteps of the three-time Wimbledon winner-a attribution that no young athlete has yet good. At regular intervals, Becker is traded as a trainer of Zverev, but it prefers to stick to his father as a coach.

When TV expert Becker advised him to change coaches through the media, a public exchange of blows developed. Zverev countered: “I think that if things go well for me, I always do everything right. And if things go badly, everyone is always very, very smart. Unfortunately, Boris is part of it.” His personal conversations with Becker would “run very differently”: “Maybe he would also like to put on a different mask if he stands in front of the camera and somehow stands differently.” After the early end of the classic in London Zverev, an external advisor in the family company no longer excluded.

So many construction sites that mean that Alexander Zverev has not made its way to the top of the tennis business-not even now, since the Holy Trinity Nadal/Djokovic/Federer leaves the places to the mortals. Too often he seemed to be standing in the way. So far, the public has not known a possible reason for this, its mental difficulties. Even his brother Mischa, who persecuted the confession as a TV expert, was surprised. The German tennis star initially left open what the help could look like. He hoped to be able to answer at the tournament in Canada in a month.

Wimbledon’s statements don’t sound like that the dream of the Grand Slam title is the biggest problem of Alexander Zverev. The 28-year-old also recognized this: “I have to find myself a little and understand what people bring me to, which I enjoy, which motivates me.”