The Guru
Legend
Do not despair fellow ABZers. This may seem a dark day. The enemy may have won a masters in dominant fashion and more or less clinched ye number 2 today and obviously these things are bad developments for the brotherhood. However my brothers, I believe this Sascha triumph will actually hurt him in the long run and I will explain why this will ultimately be a pyrrhic victory.
When Zverev first burst onto the scene he was capable of matches with sustained all out aggression. A lot of analysts comment that many top players baseline strategy boils down to outbash or outlast and early Zverev had some serious bashing prowess when he was hot. Go back and watch his best stuff from 17/18 look at a tourney like DC 2018 he just completely overwhelmed opponents with power and aggression. But the constant disappointments broke his mind and he just could not afford to make the errors that came with his more aggressive gamestyle when he was double faulting constantly giving away free service games and also tightening up in the big points. Zverev switched lanes and essentially tried to become a servebot pusher to disastrous (or for our purposes glorious) results. Zverev finally struck a good balance between aggression and consistency and mostly figured out his serving woes in 2021 and consistent contending for Zverev seemed inevitable.
Then the injury. Not a good thing even as a Zverev hater. But what's interesting is where he's gone from there to get back to the top. Zverev slowly began to find himself last year and by the end of the year and even early 2024 a Zverev confident enough to go after his shots while still moving well and having solid defensive capabilities appeared. Zverev probably brought the best level of anyone to the 24 AO but then a collapse. Medvedev steals a match from as Zverev goes back to his epic choking ways. His worst choke since the USO and all the sudden the confidence is gone. Zverev retreats into his shell. Begins playing passive servebot pushing tennis again and starts taking awful losses left and right. A continuation of this trend post AO to Rome could have awakened him from his slumber and wisened him up but no. Something else happens.
Zverev starts to achieve results with mediocre tennis. Zverev gets a cupcake draw and narrowly avoids getting blown off the court by Tabilo to win Rome his first masters in 3 years. Then another cupcake to an FO final which he also barely survives. The cracks keep showing up. Losses to Fils, Fritz, Korda. But he can tell himself I won Rome. I was a bad line call away from being tied in the 5th set of a GS final. This tennis style is working I should keep playing like this. Then it starts to get ugly. Two more losses to Fritz. Then a loss to Goffin and Musetti on a indoor hard court. Absolutely atrocious results that should force reflection.
And now we arrive at Paris. One more upset and Zverev is almost certainly forced to reconsider what he's been doing. But then it comes a cupcake draw with no top 10 opponents ride to a second masters of the year and the world number 2 ranking. Now with this he can tell himself this is his best year ever. He should keep playing like this. No need to find a better balance of aggression and consistency no need to learn to go for your shots in big moments and have better nerve management. Pushing is all he needs to achieve such amazing things as this. Stay the course. The slam will come.
Not like this it won't. As long as Zverev plays this brand of tennis the Zvirginity of the slams will be preserved. Sometimes victories cost too much. Sometimes they lead you down the wrong path. Let Zverev have this pyrrhic victory and know that it serves our cause in the long run. Never lose sight of the bigger picture. Protecting the Zvirginity of the slams is all that matters.
ABZ
When Zverev first burst onto the scene he was capable of matches with sustained all out aggression. A lot of analysts comment that many top players baseline strategy boils down to outbash or outlast and early Zverev had some serious bashing prowess when he was hot. Go back and watch his best stuff from 17/18 look at a tourney like DC 2018 he just completely overwhelmed opponents with power and aggression. But the constant disappointments broke his mind and he just could not afford to make the errors that came with his more aggressive gamestyle when he was double faulting constantly giving away free service games and also tightening up in the big points. Zverev switched lanes and essentially tried to become a servebot pusher to disastrous (or for our purposes glorious) results. Zverev finally struck a good balance between aggression and consistency and mostly figured out his serving woes in 2021 and consistent contending for Zverev seemed inevitable.
Then the injury. Not a good thing even as a Zverev hater. But what's interesting is where he's gone from there to get back to the top. Zverev slowly began to find himself last year and by the end of the year and even early 2024 a Zverev confident enough to go after his shots while still moving well and having solid defensive capabilities appeared. Zverev probably brought the best level of anyone to the 24 AO but then a collapse. Medvedev steals a match from as Zverev goes back to his epic choking ways. His worst choke since the USO and all the sudden the confidence is gone. Zverev retreats into his shell. Begins playing passive servebot pushing tennis again and starts taking awful losses left and right. A continuation of this trend post AO to Rome could have awakened him from his slumber and wisened him up but no. Something else happens.
Zverev starts to achieve results with mediocre tennis. Zverev gets a cupcake draw and narrowly avoids getting blown off the court by Tabilo to win Rome his first masters in 3 years. Then another cupcake to an FO final which he also barely survives. The cracks keep showing up. Losses to Fils, Fritz, Korda. But he can tell himself I won Rome. I was a bad line call away from being tied in the 5th set of a GS final. This tennis style is working I should keep playing like this. Then it starts to get ugly. Two more losses to Fritz. Then a loss to Goffin and Musetti on a indoor hard court. Absolutely atrocious results that should force reflection.
And now we arrive at Paris. One more upset and Zverev is almost certainly forced to reconsider what he's been doing. But then it comes a cupcake draw with no top 10 opponents ride to a second masters of the year and the world number 2 ranking. Now with this he can tell himself this is his best year ever. He should keep playing like this. No need to find a better balance of aggression and consistency no need to learn to go for your shots in big moments and have better nerve management. Pushing is all he needs to achieve such amazing things as this. Stay the course. The slam will come.
Not like this it won't. As long as Zverev plays this brand of tennis the Zvirginity of the slams will be preserved. Sometimes victories cost too much. Sometimes they lead you down the wrong path. Let Zverev have this pyrrhic victory and know that it serves our cause in the long run. Never lose sight of the bigger picture. Protecting the Zvirginity of the slams is all that matters.
ABZ
