The 6-foot- 6 Alexander “Sascha” Zverev can be on fire. But, then in the next games, he will ignore what he is supposed to do. In some matches at the end of last year and through early 2020, he did what he needed to succeed against intelligent players.
Zverev is only 23 year old and started playing as a pro in 2013. Eventually, he began to figure out how to take tough matches. He started to lock in, then figured that he was going to win a big title. He won Rome, Canada, Madrid and the ATP Finals. He played some excellent ball, and at various tournaments, he looks good. But when he started to slip, he could smash down. He has screamed or throwing his rackets into the ground.
And he could be cocky. When talking with a journalist, he could be irritable with some hard questions and answers.
Well now, even when Zverev is playing so-so, I wonder what he is thinking he walks to the next point. Maybe he is thinking about how to sprint at the net. If the ball is really low, does he bend down and think, “I can put it away. But sometimes, I could miss it.” Maybe he thinks, “OK, I missed it, but in the next point, I can really breath, so now I can really center.”
However, the past 11 days, he seems to be thinking clearly. In the first round, he put down Kevin Anderson, returning deep and attacking early, because he didn’t want to attack the net. That worked.
On Thursday, he will face Pablo Carreno Busta, who the German beat in their only meeting in 2018 Miami. He beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 36 7-6 (5) 7-6 (4) 06 63, in more than four hours. Carreno Busta had to puff and puff to keep going, and he wasn’t nervous, and hit with a lot of depth. The Spaniard worked with his coach from March through August, and he changed his strokes.
They both know that in order to win one they will have to hit it deep and keep their composure and mental acuity. The key is … don’t panic.