Zverev Jr., a former final four, was dropped three straight sets by Canadian rising star Shapovalov to stop in the round of 16. The game was like Becker's sharp comment, Zverev never found his rhythm of the game, playing neither energetic nor aggressive, criticizing the younger generations for losing games but not without willpower. The world's third did not lose a set to advance to the second week of the Australian Open, did not expect to be in the fourth round of the hot stove, so there was the following dialogue with the reporter.
--- "What do you think went wrong with your game?" ”
--- "All. ”
Shapovalov's second career victory over a Top5 player closed his third victory over a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam and unlocked his first Australian Open Quarter-Final Eight. He nearly toppled the king of clay in Rome last year, with Abu Dhabi just beating Nadal in the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Tournament and facing the world's sixth-place finish in the Quarter-Finals, with the two left-handers batting for a ticket to the final four.
Frustrated, Zverev said at a press conference: "To be honest, from today's game, I can't say much or learn much. Maybe starting at Wimbledon, it was one of the worst games I've ever played, and it was tough. Obviously, I believe in Dennis, I think he's worth it, he's done a lot of work and he's improved his skills. But I also have to look at myself, in my opinion, today was too bad for me. ”
The defeat was arguably the biggest upset in the Men's Singles at the Australian Open so far, but the world's third didn't particularly surprise him.
"I played poorly all week and to be honest, I don't think I played that well. Except for the second round against John Millman, maybe I played well, but the other two games weren't playing well either. Here, playing during the day and playing at night is very different. I guess that didn't help me either, no excuses. At the end of the day, I had to do better. My goal here is to win the game, maybe to be number one in the world. But if I play like this, I don't deserve it, it's that simple. ”
"After a game like this, it's very silly to talk about (aspire to be number one in the world) and I think I need to recognize myself first."
The reporter asked him if he played so well at the end of last year, did he feel that there was a need for any different methods of preparation, or whether he focused on the new season? He replied: "I've done a good job offseason, I've done a good job of preparing, sometimes it's not just those, I mean, there's no excuse, I have to do better, it's as simple as that. It's not anyone else's fault, it's not the coach's fault, it's not the team's fault, it's all my own problem, I just can't beat an opponent like Dennis today. ”
Zverev Jr. led all the men's runners with six titles last season, but those six titles were all three-set, two-win tours or Olympic Games, with the highest gold content being the Turin year-end finals winner who won consecutive world number one and world number two.
The Tokyo Olympic champion's best performances in the four Grand Slams so far are the second place in the US Open, the two-time final four of the Australian Open, the final four of the French Open, and the top 16 of Wimbledon. He has an embarrassing record in Grand Slam matches, which is 0 wins and 11 losses against top 10 players in Grand Slam matches, 2 wins and 13 losses against top 15 players, and only 4 wins and 15 losses against top 20 players.
Is Zverev, who has Grand Slam syndrome, just a good tour boy? He holds 19 titles and stands out in the championship list of post-90s players.
Earlier, he was often criticized for playing five-set battles in Grand Slams, and in the past two years, with the improvement of his net and forehand skills, his psychology has matured and stabilized a lot, but he is still almost hot from becoming a Grand Slam champion. Just as he played against his good brother Tim in the US Open final last year, the 68-mile second serve was ridiculed by the group, Zverev's technical link is currently weaker than the second shot, or even an uncontrollable double error, last year's Wimbledon against Aliassim He made about 20 double mistakes, sending so many free scores The result is of course a defeat.
Before the tournament, he was very optimistic that Zverev would replace him as Germany's greatest tennis player in the future, "We are still at the beginning of the year, I am confident that Sasha (Zverev) will win the Australian Open, but this will not be a walk in the park, the competitors will not fall asleep; In the second week against Sasha Zverev, the top players will no longer have any pressure. But after losing the fourth round, Becker couldn't hide his disappointment: "Sasha's dream of becoming world number one after the Australian Open is now over, and he has to think about what really happened." ”
Becker also spoke of Zverev's unusually poor serve performance, "He was full of confidence before, and the serve was also a big weapon for him, but in the match against Shapovalov there were only 3 Aces and 8 double errors. He waited on the bottom line, just hit the ball back, hoping that the opponent would make mistakes, and he never really put pressure on Shapovalov. For a top player like Zverev, the round of 16 is not enough. ”
Sweden star Wielander thinks he's seen Enough of Zverev and knows he won't live up to expectations.
"This generation will not have the Big Four," Wieland told Eurosport. "There are 7, 8, 9, 10 people who will win one of them. Zverev, Aliasim and Beretini are among them. ”
"I haven't seen in Zverev the kind of qualities that I see in Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer. Sasha Zverev can't rule the game like they did, because emotionally today [against Shapovalov], to be honest, I don't think he's a top player. ”
As the introspective Zverev said, he needs to think hard about what went wrong and get back up as soon as possible.
The 24-year-old German star, who was blocked by the world number one in the Australian Open and the US Open last year, has not seized the opportunity to survive in this signing table without Djokovic, which is considered by many fans to be a missed opportunity. If he successfully reaches the final and wins the championship, he can naturally sit on the throne of the world number one and become the new king of the post-90s.
In the poor epidemic prevention situation of this year's Australian Open (Embel, Tomic, Ujjbank infected with the new crown), the very self-disciplined German celebrity made a "safety bubble" in Melbourne Park, did not go to any restaurants, and did not go anywhere except for hotel rooms and stadiums. After the night game, he was still very active in training, but his ambitions did not come to fruition at melbourne Park this year, and he hoped that he would break through the demons as soon as possible and make a career at the Grand Slam arena as soon as possible.
(Source: Tennis House Author: Linghe Xianying)