Sascha’s incredible season ends on a sour note

Published by Bede Briscomb

Zverev said he 'choked' in his ATP Finals loss to Jack Sock; Getty Images
He rose from outside the top 20 to No.3, won 54 matches and two Masters titles, and banked $4 million in prize money. But Alexander Zverev is not satisfied.

Alexander Zverev is 20 years old. Here’s what he did in 2017:

  • peaked at world No.3
  • won 54 matches
  • claimed five titles, including two Masters 1000s
  • banked more than $4 million in prize money

At the same age, Roger Federer had 49 match wins, one title and finished the year at world No.13.

Zverev has beaten Federer, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, and he already has 40 wins over top-10 opponents in his career.

The German is not the ‘Next Generation’ of tennis. He is the generation of tennis … but he doesn’t seem too happy about it.

ATP FINALS: Federer, Sock advance to semifinals 

Debuting at the ATP Finals in London this week, Zverev probably should have been soaking it all in, but when asked a stock standard question about whom he idolises, he snapped: “You don’t know that answer? Federer, but I’ve answered this question about 150 times.”

And then days later he took to Instagram to randomly throw shade at Eugenie Bouchard:

genie

On the court, Zverev was predictably impressive. He defeated Cilic, lost to Federer in three tight sets and on Thursday fell to Jack Sock 4-6 6-1 4-6. And he didn’t seem too intent on crediting his opponent.

“Yeah, I choked. It’s quite easy. Won the second set 6-1. I was 1-0 with a break. He got a point penalty. I was down 1-4 within 10 minutes where I didn’t put many balls in the court. When I got back at 4-5, that’s one of the worst games I think I played all year. So, yeah, I just choked,” he told the press in London.

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A month ago, in a match against Juan Martin del Potro in Shanghai, he did this:

And two months ago, after a shock second-round loss to Borna Coric at the US Open – where he was the top seed in his half of the draw – Zverev was similarly salty.

“I played very, very bad in the second and third set. I should have won the third, and I definitely should have won the fourth,” he said.

“[Coric] maybe had a little bit of luck. He caught the line and had a few net cords. Everything was just a little bit against me.”

A couple of weeks after winning the Coupe Rogers in Canada, Zverev said: “I think Roger and Rafa are the strongest ones and a few guys coming after that. I think I am involved in that group. I am in that small group of players.”

Since then, he went 9-9 with just one semifinal appearance in seven tournaments.

“The end of the year was absolute crap for me. If I would have played the whole year like I did, by the end of the year I don’t think I would have finished top 50. Yeah, that’s a bit unfortunate for me,” he reflected after losing to Sock in London.

TEST! Which ATP Finalist are you?

Zverev has also failed to reach the quarterfinals of any major so far in his short career, which would the suggest the expectations heaped on him by the media, and undoubtedly the expectations he heaps on himself, are getting to him.

But it would be wise to put it everything in perspective, as the upbeat Jack Sock did. “I mean, he can’t even legally drink a beer in the U.S. and he’s 3 in the world,” the American said.

In March 1997, the average age for a top-10 player was 24. Today, it’s 28. The fact that Alexander Zverev is this good, this young is almost unprecedented in the modern game, something Alexander Zverev Snr and Juan Carlos Ferrero will surely remind Sascha of as he recovers from a disappointing end to the year.

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