It is not easy to judge the season of Alexander Zverev. The German has been very consistent throughout the year, but he missed that flick in the Grand Slam tournaments to make his 2024 truly memorable. Many fans and insiders thought 2024 would be the right year to see him lift a Major title, but the champion from Hamburg did not have the mental strength to finally achieve this feat.
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Sascha - who was surpassed by Carlos Alcaraz in second place in the ATP ranking - reached the semifinal at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, the final at the French Open losing to Alcaraz in five sets, the Wimbledon Championships round of 16 and the US Open quarter-finals, where he played one of the worst matches of his career against Taylor Fritz.
The German ace had a huge chance in New York this year after the premature elimination of Novak Djokovic and Carlitos Alcaraz, both defeated in their first week due to the Olympic tournaments fatigue. Unlike Jannik Sinner, Zverev has not managed the pressure and nerves well and has failed yet another chance of his career. Alexander won the Masters 1000 in Rome this year and cant be too dissatisfied with his season, but the curse of the Grand Slam tournaments is starting to get stiffer.
Sascha has a clear goal
The last event Sascha attended was the 2024 edition of the Laver Cup, which was played at the Uber Arena in Berlin and saw the victory of Team Europe. "Unfortunately I was diagnosed with pneumonia, which explains my physical problems of the last few months. I have to take care of my health to get back to racing as soon as possible". These were the last words of Alexander Zverev in justifying his absence from Beijing.
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The German champion has been speaking again in the last few hours and fortunately he has given positive updates regarding his physical condition. At the pre-tournament press conference in Shanghai, the 27-year-old confirmed that there will be and has important goals for this last phase of the season: "I had a little problem with my lungs. I have a lung inflammation again that will take several months, two or three months to completely disappear. I am taking some medicine, but the reason why I retired from Beijing is that I was very sick, had high fever during and after the Laver Cup. Eventually I ended up in the hospital, I was not feeling well and had no energy to play, I was on antibiotics for a week", he explained.
Now his condition is improving: "I feel better, but the lung problem has not disappeared, its still there. I still feel a little more tired than Im used to, but either I take a season off or play as much as I can. The doctor told me that if I play I wont delay my recovery and I wont get worse, so Im happy to give 100% of what I have," he said.
Sascha has clear ideas about personal goals: "It would be great to finish the year as world number two. Number 1 will go to Jannik, who secured it after the US Open. I think that before the US Open the situation was open between Jannik, Carlos and me. I think finishing the year as number 2 and starting 2025 would be great. Of course, I know that Carlos is playing a great game of tennis right now, hes in Beijing scoring points and I know that I have to do my best to achieve this goal", he concluded.
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A good 2024
The champion from Hamburg will try to finish the season well and win the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, a tournament that fits very well with his style of play. Sascha has already won the finals twice, in 2018 and 2021 respectively. Recently, Zverevtook a shot at the ATP calendar: There is no other sport where there is so much play; this cannot continue. The players health is at risk; its inconceivable that we start a season on December 29 and finish in the second week of November.
If you want to fight for important things like being the world No.1 and winning Grand Slams, with this calendar, you have to play numerous weeks a year; thats unsustainable. This week we can talk, and we all agree on many things, but we cant change anything. Its all about money. Tournaments have licenses, and we cant do anything against that. Its impossible to eliminate tournaments just like that; we would have to compensate all those events because they have their licenses. Its not viable.
