Zverev Clears Mental Hurdles For More Grand Slam Success

The days of Alexander Zverev underperforming in Grand Slams are a thing of the past.

The 23-year-old reached his first Grand Slam semi-final in January at the Australian Open and matched that effort at the US Open with his four-set win on Tuesday against Borna Coric. Zverev became the first German since Boris Becker (1995) to reach the last four in New York.

His deep runs this year are the result of a long process to overcome mental barriers at major championships. Zverev had to get accustomed to competing in tournaments he watched growing up, then adapt to the attention that comes with being a contender to win them. The tension he felt contributed to several surprise losses, including one to Coric at the 2017 US Open, but he’s now able to bring his best tennis to these events.

“I wanted it too much. I was trying too hard in Grand Slams,” Zverev said. “When you start playing tennis at a young age, the thing you always wanted to do is to play in big tournaments [and] the big finals. I feel like this is the reason I started playing tennis.

“I needed to learn how to deal with that pressure [and] those expectations of myself. It took me a little bit of time, but now I’m in the semi-finals of the US Open and I definitely don’t want to stop here.”

Although Zverev has made great strides in adopting a more relaxed approach, he’s the first to admit that it’s a work in progress. He leaked errors for the first set-and-a-half against Coric and was unable to settle down inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. But when it appeared that Coric would sprint to victory, Zverev opted for bigger targets and to make his opponent beat him. Slowly but surely, he got himself back in the match.

“It’s not a secret that I didn’t play my best. But I found a way to win that second set and I feel like that’s the most important thing,” Zverev said. “I told myself, ‘Look, if you keep playing like this, you’re going to be down two-sets-to-love in a blink.’ Sometimes not playing your best and finding a way is more important than playing your best.”

Zverev holds at least one ATP Head2Head win against everyone remaining in the draw and has a significant opportunity to win his first Grand Slam title on Sunday. Although the buzz around him is growing, he’s learned not to get caught up in the attention.

”We’re going to have a new Grand Slam champion. This is the one thing that we know for sure,” Zverev said. “There are a lot of guys that want it… I know that all of the young guys are hungry for it. It’s going to be interesting.”