Zverev Enjoys Warm Welcome In Beijing

It’s a warm welcome in Beijing for the youngest player in the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Alexander Zverev, who has risen from No. 24 to No. 4 in 2017, arrives in China’s capital with all the momentum of a standout second season on the ATP World Tour. 2017 season has seen the 6’6″ German win five titles – the same amount as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – including two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in Rome (d. Novak Djokovic) and Montreal (d. Federer).

But as the season comes to an intense finish and the Emirates ATP Race To London heats up, Zverev looks to keep building upon the consistency that he established throughout the season, starting this week at the China Open.

“I’m pretty consistent all over the year so far. [I have] always played pretty good tournaments. I didn’t lose a lot of bad matches,” said Zverev. “Of course, everyone loses bad matches, but I didn’t have a lot of them this year. That’s a part where I’m happy, the way I improved, the way I got better.

“There [are] so many things that everybody’s trying to improve. I think Roger and Rafa, they are the two best players of all time, but they still improve each year they play. You can never stop. That’s something that I’m still going to be working on to get to the top of the game.”

Following a quarter-final appearance at the Shenzhen Open, where he lost to an in-form Damir Dzumhur, Zverev arrives in Beijing as the tournament’s No.2 seed. The draw also features World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, 2011 champion Tomas Berdych and last year’s runner-up Grigor Dimitrov, who claimed his maiden Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open in August.                  

At just 20 years old, Zverev’s rapid transition from a successful stint in the juniors to a flourishing professional career has in part been because of his professional mindset, which he credits older brother Mischa Zverev for instilling in him.

“I think my brother helped me with it because he was on the pro tour already. He could always talk, he could always teach me a lot of stuff,” said Zverev. “But then also it depends on game styles as well a little bit.”

The younger Zverev says that his style of play in the juniors helped carry his success over to the ATP World Tour.

“A lot of juniors, they play so-called ‘junior tennis’ where they put the ball in play, try to wait for their opponents to miss, stuff like this. I was always somebody, even when I was losing, who was trying to be aggressive, always trying to hit the ball.

“I think from a young age, you have to try to learn to play an adult game,” he added. “Even though it doesn’t always work out, at the end that’s the only way of making the pros. That’s the only way of being successful on the pro tour afterwards.” 

In Beijing this week, Zverev and his aggressive “adult” game open against Kyle Edmund, against whom Zverev owns a 1-0 record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The German wunderkind is popular with China’s sport-loving fans – and it’s a popularity he happily embraces. 

“They’re always very supportive here in China. That’s why I think all the players love coming back. They’re trying to be very personal with players; trying to interact … A lot of my fans love my dog, for example. I get a lot of gifts for him, as well, which I find very amazing.”