Zverev the Great

[jga111]

I've been meaning to write a post about this player for a while now, ever since last year when I saw him battling out with a few of the younger players.

Firstly I want to congratulate Nadal on a fine victory. Contrary to what many people may think, he DID deserve the win even though Zverev was unlucky not to convert his MP. Tennis is about pressure and dealing with you mental demons - it is one of the few sports where the winner is the deserved victor. This time around Zverev was unable to convert, but he'll get there.

Its not often I look at a player and think "Yeah man, I like you!". He is an 18 year old German breaking through the ranks at a pace that today may be regarded as 'going against the grain'. Sound familiar to anyone? Maybe a few of the older readers here will nod as I reminisce to that wonderful year when a 17 year old German made history and shocked the world of tennis as he won the Wimbledon title. Can Zverev do the same?

Let's bring the Zverev hopefuls down to earth first of all. His results do NOT suggest he can win a grand slam this year. But it is encouraging to see this player evolve before us. He has all the shots - but he has something I have seen that I have failed to see in the others (e.g Kyrgios). FIRE. PASSION and DESIRE. But more importantly I see all of these ingredients channeled in his tennis - whereas I cannot say the same for the others. I do not see a lot of negative energy around him - if anything he reminds me of an 18 year old Murray but with far greater potential. His second serve pretty much says it all about him - controlled aggressive, he will not hold off or take pace off just because you're a big time player - he will respect you but not overly, his focus is becoming a big time player himself - he has no fear, and I'm sure all us rec players can related to the bravery required on playing a second serve the way he does - he simply has no time on being a small part player, he is going for the big time and fast, that's for sure.

So while I'll say not to expect any Becker-esque glory this year, keep your eye on this young man because he could well be the golden potential spawning out of today's young crop. I personally will put a bet on him to win Wimbledon this year (just for fun, you never know). I think we actually do have an exciting young crop of players finally coming through, and with the likes of Zverev and Kyrgios hovering around, new exciting rivalries look to blossom - I think I'll be keeping my sports subscription for now

 

[Chanwan]

No offense, but there are almost half a dozen threads on Zverev from the last few days already. Wouldn't it be nicer to have everything on him in a main thread?

As for all the shots, I'm sure you've watched more of him than I have, but would you say he's got a slice and a net game yet? He was hitting two-handed volleys vs. Rafa the other day and botching the easiest of sitters. To me, he's solid off both wings, great on the BH side, great serve (fewer DF's would be nice though) and a solid ROS and movement for his size.

 

[Deleted member 410229]

Becker was a ginger

 

[jga111]

No offense, but there are almost half a dozen threads on Zverev from the last few days already. Wouldn't it be nicer to have everything on him in a main thread?

As for all the shots, I'm sure you've watched more of him than I have, but would you say he's got a slice and a net game yet? He was hitting two-handed volleys vs. Rafa the other day and botching the easiest of sitters. To me, he's solid off both wings, great on the BH side, great serve (fewer DF's would be nice though) and a solid ROS and movement for his size.

No offence taken - please don't take offence when I disagree with you. I don't have time to reflect on previous posts so I'm writing my own account on him - feel free to ignore it, you are not obliged to respond to every thread on Zverev.

As per your assessment, we are judging at an age where even we say the #1 player today cannot do overheads strongly enough - Zverev has all the shots to take him to #1 as far as I am concerned. If he keeps his 2nd serve as he does, don't expect that DF figure to go down, but he will win more free points than lose them. Just like Sampras, its refreshing to see someone use the 2nd serve as a weapon more than a safe-haven.

 

[Chanwan]

No offence taken - please don't take offence when I disagree with you. I don't have time to reflect on previous posts so I'm writing my own account on him - feel free to ignore it, you are not obliged to respond to every thread on Zverev.

As per your assessment, we are judging at an age where even we say the #1 player today cannot do overheads strongly enough - Zverev has all the shots to take him to #1 as far as I am concerned. If he keeps his 2nd serve as he does, don't expect that DF figure to go down, but he will win more free points than lose them. Just like Sampras, its refreshing to see someone use the 2nd serve as a weapon more than a safe-haven.

Agree on the 2nd serve, that's cool to use it as a weapon and the DF's can come down (look at Milos who serves at a similar pace on his 2nd's). He just seems extremely uncomfortable at the net (more than 95 % of the top-100 as far as I can tell), but of course he can get better, just like Djoko did under Becker.

 

[Bartelby]

Zverev might be German, but he is ethnically Russian and from a Russian tennis family so scarcely a Becker-style German.

 

[SpinDr.]

People keep saying "he has all the shots," but he can't volley. Last time I checked, that's an important shot.

 

[SoBad]

People keep saying "he has all the shots," but he can't volley. Last time I checked, that's an important shot.

He has groundstrokes, which is what matters. Wouldn't want to see him wash himself down the S&V hack toilet like his talentless brother.

 

[SpinDr.]

I'm not suggesting this should be his primary tactic. I'm saying that over the course of a match a player will find himself in all areas of the court including the net, either because his opponent has pulled him there or because it's useful for finishing the point (i.e. following an approach to the net or shrinking the court after using a drop shot). The great players can beat good players from all positions. For Zverev to be truly great, he needs "all the shots" and that's simply not the case right now. Even baseliners like Djokovic, Nadal, Hewitt, and Safin can/could volley better than the average player.

 

[jga111]

I'm not suggesting this should be his primary tactic. I'm saying that over the course of a match a player will find himself in all areas of the court including the net, either because his opponent has pulled him there or because it's useful for finishing the point (i.e. following an approach to the net or shrinking the court after using a drop shot). The great players can beat good players from all positions. For Zverev to become a future great, he needs "all the shots" and that's simply not the case right now. Even baseliners like Djokovic, Nadal, Hewitt, and Safin can/could volley better than the average player.

Maybe you are right. But what is clear to me is that what I see in his eyes is a hunger and desire, to win. How he responds psychologically to Nadal's defeat is key - I hope it doesn't 'soften' him up. He has a lot of steel and I hope for his sake he merely uses this defeat to make him stronger.

Point taken - let's see if his volleys improve with time.

 

[veroniquem]

I don't know when or what he will win but he is the first youngster I have found truly inspiring AND charming (someone in another thread pointed out he had "charm", and I feel maybe that particular word suits him better than the overused "charisma") in quite some time. He is fresh, talented, youthful, bold with a certain frailty on top and that has charm. He is the 3rd tennis teen I have fallen for (after Agassi and Nadal) and I like that they're all very different and the reasons of why I became a fan were very distinctive. But the common denominator is that they inspired some enthusiasm in me and the desire to see them do well. And this is not to put down Kyrgios at all as I like KG too. But Zverev pulls at my heart strings quite a bit.
I couldn't disagree more with SpinDr. Zverev does have "all the shots" but of course, at 18, some stuff still needs improving. I know that in the past, some players younger than him won big (Chang, Becker, Wilander...) but Lendl/ Fed/Djoko for instance also were pretty rough around the edges at that age. Agassi won his first title quite young but in the end, it took him a long time to mature. Even Nadal who was extremely precocious on clay took some time to develop a competitive game on hard. You cannot expect a fully fledged game at 18. And in some instances, that is not even such a good thing after all (look at Chang's career for instance)

 

[veroniquem]

And btw, Roddick raved about Zverev on twitter and it seems Fed likes him too. So, at least, a few of the tennis pros share my impressions about his prospective career...

 

[tennisfan2015]

If I had to pick a young gun it would be him over any other Kyrgios or Coric, etc. I reckon this kid will be a major force in 5-6 years.

 

[Goosehead]

5 or 6 years ?..it will be much quicker than that.

 

[Fedinkum]

Statistics may be against the youngster. Would be interesting to see how many no.1 or slam winner standing at 6ft6 in the open era.

 

[The Green Mile]

Statistics may be against the youngster. Would be interesting to see how many no.1 or slam winner standing at 6ft6 in the open era.

Safin was the tallest #1 player, along with Stan Smith at 6'4. Delpo and Cilic are the tallest Major winners at 6'6.

 

[Fedinkum]

Safin was the tallest #1 player, along with Stan Smith at 6'4. Delpo and Cilic are the tallest Major winners at 6'6.

Thank you, that is what I fear for the youngster.

 

[Deleted member 3771]

Did anyone watch Zverev get Rosoled 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the Davis cup? How did he get so comprehensively beaten? what happened to him?

 

[veroniquem]

Safin was the tallest #1 player, along with Stan Smith at 6'4. Delpo and Cilic are the tallest Major winners at 6'6.

Yeah ok. OTOH there is a first time for everything.

 

[Standaa]

Anyone but Zverev the Great

 

[jga111]

I've been meaning to write a post about this player for a while now, ever since last year when I saw him battling out with a few of the younger players.

Firstly I want to congratulate Nadal on a fine victory. Contrary to what many people may think, he DID deserve the win even though Zverev was unlucky not to convert his MP. Tennis is about pressure and dealing with you mental demons - it is one of the few sports where the winner is the deserved victor. This time around Zverev was unable to convert, but he'll get there.

Its not often I look at a player and think "Yeah man, I like you!". He is an 18 year old German breaking through the ranks at a pace that today may be regarded as 'going against the grain'. Sound familiar to anyone? Maybe a few of the older readers here will nod as I reminisce to that wonderful year when a 17 year old German made history and shocked the world of tennis as he won the Wimbledon title. Can Zverev do the same?

Let's bring the Zverev hopefuls down to earth first of all. His results do NOT suggest he can win a grand slam this year. But it is encouraging to see this player evolve before us. He has all the shots - but he has something I have seen that I have failed to see in the others (e.g Kyrgios). FIRE. PASSION and DESIRE. But more importantly I see all of these ingredients channeled in his tennis - whereas I cannot say the same for the others. I do not see a lot of negative energy around him - if anything he reminds me of an 18 year old Murray but with far greater potential. His second serve pretty much says it all about him - controlled aggressive, he will not hold off or take pace off just because you're a big time player - he will respect you but not overly, his focus is becoming a big time player himself - he has no fear, and I'm sure all us rec players can related to the bravery required on playing a second serve the way he does - he simply has no time on being a small part player, he is going for the big time and fast, that's for sure.

So while I'll say not to expect any Becker-esque glory this year, keep your eye on this young man because he could well be the golden potential spawning out of today's young crop. I personally will put a bet on him to win Wimbledon this year (just for fun, you never know). I think we actually do have an exciting young crop of players finally coming through, and with the likes of Zverev and Kyrgios hovering around, new exciting rivalries look to blossom - I think I'll be keeping my sports subscription for now

I wrote this 2 years back?! I have surprised myself haha.

Definitely betting on him winning Wimbledon this year..