Sacha Zverev might not even be seeded for the French Open, does that make him a "dangerous floater"? Or will he be flushed early?

[Zardoz7/12]

Basically his top 20 ranking currently all hinges on his clay performances last year, if he doesn't defend those points he might enter the French Open unseeded and I was impressed with Zverev at the French Open, beating Alcaraz was important for him and he pushed Nadal hard in those 2 sets, he choked a bit though but still I would have favoured Nadal in 3 or 4 sets regardless. Remember Alcaraz was Zverev's first ever top ten win at a Grand Slam, which is odd for a play who's considered a top tier player.

If he finds form between now and the French Open he might be a dangerous first round opponent for Nadal, Djokovic or Alcaraz and we would be getting marquee matches early.

 

[nolefam_2024]

1320 points defending till end of Rome. Out of 2,410.

If he flops in Rome (1/2 time winner?), MC, Madrid (1 time winner) he still would be seeded.

 

[Shaolin]

He's a floater all right

 

[Mustard]

Nadal vs. Zverev in the first round?

 

[dking68]

Zverev has a lot of work to do to defend those points. Realistically I don’t see him defending them. Charlie and Sinner have improved a lot and also outsiders like Musetti seem to be very determined to achieve big results. He’s gonna have a hard time.

 

[CHillTennis]

He's going to get flushed.

 

[Jonesy]

He is still not at his best form, will get flushed against any top contender.

 

[am1899]

Gold chains and swag...

 

[TripleATeam]

Interesting. Say he'll need to be equal in points to current #32, or 1165, to be seeded. He has 370 points accumulated post-RG at the moment, meaning he needs 795 from the clay-court warmups to remain seeded. Definitely possible, but it requires a return to form and at least 1 SF from him at one of the M1000s.

Regardless he'll be a dangerous opponent, whether unseeded or seeded low.

 

[Deleted member 629564]

Zverev in danger of falling out of World Top100

As it stands Alexander Zverev is #16 in the world having 2410 ranking points. Around 1200 pts is needed to stay in Top30, 600 pts to stay in Top100. Sascha has a plenty of points to be defended on clay in the following weeks: M-C (2022 SF) 360 pts Madrid (2022 F) 600 pts Rome (2022 SF) 360...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

 

[nolefam_2024]

Interesting. Say he'll need to be equal in points to current #32, or 1165, to be seeded. He has 370 points accumulated post-RG at the moment, meaning he needs 795 from the clay-court warmups to remain seeded. Definitely possible, but it requires a return to form and at least 1 SF from him at one of the M1000s.

Regardless he'll be a dangerous opponent, whether unseeded or seeded low.

Nope. Add 720 from RG. He already has 1090 out of 1165. Plus whatever he will get from MC already. Basically there is no way he is unseeded at RG.

 

[Deleted member 629564]

Zverev is scheduled to play in ATP 250 Munich next week. Extra 230 pts to gain as he defends only 20 from last year's 2R loss to Rune.

 

[wangs78]

He’s clearly not yet in form, both physically and mentally, to defend those points. But if he stays positive and keeps working he should be able to be a dangerous floater for years to come. The only player who, when playing well, can take the racquet out of the hands of tall players, who play well behind the baseline, is Alcaraz with his deep ground stroke + dropper combo. And we’ve already seen that Alcaraz tends to be on for one tournament, then off for the next one or two. So Zverev will have his chances.

 

[nolefam_2024]

He’s clearly not yet in form, both physically and mentally, to defend those points. But if he stays positive and keeps working he should be able to be a dangerous floater for years to come. The only player who, when playing well, can take the racquet out of the hands of tall players, who play well behind the baseline, is Alcaraz with his deep ground stroke + dropper combo. And we’ve already seen that Alcaraz tends to be on for one tournament, then off for the next one or two. So Zverev will have his chances.

Are you saying he will be a floater for years to come when we had Ruud at number 2 and still in top 5 and have Rublev in top 10?

 

[wangs78]

Are you saying he will be a floater for years to come when we had Ruud at number 2 and still in top 5 and have Rublev in top 10?

Zverev in top form is competitive against anybody. What does Rudd and Rublev have to do with Zverev’s ability to be a dangerous floater, which in my book means someone who generally doesn’t have great results but on any given day can beat anybody?

 

[nolefam_2024]

Zverev in top form is competitive against anybody. What does Rudd and Rublev have to do with Zverev’s ability to be a dangerous floater, which in my book means someone who generally doesn’t have great results but on any given day can beat anybody?

Isn't that same as wild card. Also Zverev has been a floater for all his career. He will do incredible in a week and totally disappoint in next.

 

[wangs78]

Isn't that same as wild card. Also Zverev has been a floater for all his career. He will do incredible in a week and totally disappoint in next.

Wildcards are not necessarily dangerous. Many wildcards are players from the home country or old has been’s who are fan favorites, etc. A dangerous floater is more like a dark horse that has potential to pull off a major upset.

 

[Krish0608]

Depends on whether he can beat the likes of Medvedev on slow clay. We’ll know more today, as to whether he’s ready or not.

 

[Sudacafan]

Buoyancy is not the question. Certain things should always be flushed, no matter if they float or not. Like we don’t wanna see them, no?

 

[Clay lover]

Inconsistency is more consistent with his character tbh. His brilliance last year was more the outlier than the norm

 

[nolefam_2024]

Inconsistency is more consistent with his character tbh. His brilliance last year was more the outlier than the norm

What brilliance. His best year wasn't even first half of last year.

 

[Clay lover]

What brilliance. His best year wasn't even first half of last year.

By "brilliance" I just meant his FO run overrated by many. I was half sarcastic if you ask me.

 

[Purestriker]

Buoyancy is not the question. Certain things should always be flushed, no matter if they float or not. Like we don’t wanna see them, no?

Sometimes you just have to cover it up.

 

[Deleted member 629564]

2023 Monte-Carlo 3R
Zverev vs Medvedev

Set 2
*5-4
Zverev serving for the match. Loses 4 games in a row

Set 3
*5-4
Zverev again serving for the match. Broken to love.

Set 3 TB
Match point #1 at 6-5* squandered.
Match point #2 on his own serve at *7-6. Loses 3 points in a row.

This is not good.
Sascha, wake up!

 

[TheNachoMan]

2023 Monte-Carlo 3R
Zverev vs Medvedev

Set 2
*5-4
Zverev serving for the match. Loses 4 games in a row

Set 3
*5-4
Zverev again serving for the match. Broken to love.

Set 3 TB
Match point #1 at 6-5* squandered.
Match point #2 on his own serve at *7-6. Loses 3 points in a row.

This is not good.
Sascha, wake up!

Carlos is 19 and already has bigger balls than him. You can’t teach it. It’s innate.

 

[Mike Sams]

Carlos is 19 and already has bigger balls than him. You can’t teach it. It’s innate.

Djokovic at Olympics and Alcaraz at RG last year ran into God mode Zverev and were dealt with handily. Even Rafa struggled mightily on Philip Chatrier trying to go toe to toe with the big Z.
3 hours and they were still in set 2 lmao

 

[Mike Sams]

2023 Monte-Carlo 3R
Zverev vs Medvedev

Set 2
*5-4
Zverev serving for the match. Loses 4 games in a row

Set 3
*5-4
Zverev again serving for the match. Broken to love.

Set 3 TB
Match point #1 at 6-5* squandered.
Match point #2 on his own serve at *7-6. Loses 3 points in a row.

This is not good.
Sascha, wake up!

Zverev is the best player in the world when he's on!

 

[BeatlesFan]

Carlos is 19 and already has bigger balls than him. You can’t teach it. It’s innate.

53 year old Steffi Graf has bigger balls than Zedrot and she doesn't even have any.

 

[Tennfan123]

An early and welcome flushing. ABZ FTW!

 

[Zardoz7/12]

Zverev woke up and dished a bagel. Maybe the flushing mechanism is broke for the time being .

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Zverev woke up and dished a bagel. Maybe the flushing mechanism is broke for the time being .

Looks like it.

 

[Rosstour]

He is still not at his best form, will get flushed against any top contender.

I was on this train, but got off it when I saw how good he was against Medvedev in their last two matches.

 

[nolefam_2024]

He is still not at his best form, will get flushed against any top contender.

Listen he is never in good form when he absolutely kills the draw.

Remember WTF 2018, he was humiliated by Novak, but went to win the title easily.
Olympics 2020, he was coming off worst loss hitting 21 DF at Wimbledon, then absolutely peaked in Tokyo.

When you count him in, he will disappoint. When you count him out, he has no pressure, that's where we get the most dangerous Zverev.

 

[crimson87]

Reminder that we need 16 seed draws back. It's been a while since I last heard the word floater.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Reminder that we need 16 seed draws back. It's been a while since I last heard the word floater.

I honestly love 32 player draw.

 

[tex123]

I predict a 2nd round loss.

 

[MisterP]

Maybe he’ll courtesy flush himself out of the first round.

 

[Shaolin]

He's always a floater, even if he's seeded #1.

 

[RaulRamirez]

I'm not Zv's biggest fan (not sure who is) but regardless of all the times he's underwhelmed, if he's in reasonably good form, are there 10 better players - on any surface?

So if he somehow falls out of the Top 32, he's relatively dangerous - a dangerous floater. Even outside the Top 16, he's dangerous, because if healthy and in good form, he'll be better than his seeding.

 

[nolefam_2024]

/I'm not Zv's biggest fan (not sure who is) but regardless of all the times he's underwhelmed, if he's in reasonably good form, are there 10 better players - on any surface?

So if he somehow falls out of the Top 32, he's relatively dangerous - a dangerous floater. Even outside the Top 16, he's dangerous, because if healthy and in good form, he'll be better than his seeding.

In his peak form only big 3 can beat him, Djokovic Nadal and maybe Carlos. He can dominate rest. And he can be in peak form out of nowhere.

 

[RaulRamirez]

In his peak form only big 3 can beat him, Djokovic Nadal and maybe Carlos. He can dominate rest. And he can be in peak form out of nowhere.

Probably. But even if not at peak, I think his basic A or B game is still Top 10-ish on all surfaces. With the usual prospects and suspects, adding Med, Sinner, Rune, Tsitsipas, Rublev and a couple others to the list. That said, we've also seen him lose to lots of lower-calibre players over the years.

 

[vex]

I haven’t watched him at all. How far off is he from his RG’22 form? He was legit in that tourney? Best I’ve seen him play ever.

 

[heavyD]

I haven’t watched him at all. How far off is he from his RG’22 form? He was legit in that tourney? Best I’ve seen him play ever.

Far off that form. I'm surprised it's taking him so long to get back on track but it seems to be a pattern with players coming back from lengthy injuries these days. If guys like Zverev aren't back at their peak they can lose to anyone as the tour is so competitive nowadays.

 

[Snafu23]

In his peak form only big 3 can beat him, Djokovic Nadal and maybe Carlos. He can dominate rest. And he can be in peak form out of nowhere.

Tsitsipas too as their history shows. Not with ease, but good H2H and at least the Cinci loss was a pure choke (up double break on final set)