Enjoying his best season on the tour to date, Alexander Zverev is eager to improve his performance further in the future.
The 20-year-old German currently lies at fourth in the world. So far this year, he has won a total of five ATP titles on three different surfaces (hard court, grass and clay). In May he won his biggest trophy yet after defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Italian Open, a Masters 1000 event.
“You know, in 2015, I finished inside the top 100 for the first time. Last year I was almost top 20. Well, I was top 20 during the year, but I didn’t finish top 20. I was No.24 in the world. Now I’m No.4. It’s a very nice progress that I’m doing.” Zverev told chinaopen.com.
Gaining confidence from his surge on the tour, which has seen him rise by 20 places since the start of 2017, the Next Generation star knows he has more work to do. One particular area lies with the grand slam tournaments, where Zverev is yet to progress beyond the fourth round at any. At the US Open he suffered a shock second round defeat to Croatia’s Borna Coric.
“Obviously I don’t want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to keep improving. I’m going to keep working just as hard as I did to reach other goals,” he said.
“Grand Slams is something I want to improve next year. I want to get further in those tournaments.”
Fortunately age is on the right side of Zverev. He is the youngest player in the world’s top 10, which features five players over the age of 30. Along with his youth, Zverev also boosts a strong stable mentality. Something that may prove crucial in the future.
“I’m only still 20 years old. You can’t have it all unfortunately,” he said.
“I’ve been dealing with expectations since a very young age. I’ve learned how to deal with them. Obviously it becomes more and more the higher you are ranked.
“But, look, I try not to listen too much from what other people expect from me or what other people think of me. I do care about, you know, the opinion of the people that are close to me, and that is my team, my family, stuff like this. But everyone else, you know, I try not to focus on too much.”
Gunning for a sixth title in Beijing, Zverev is the second seed in the draw. Keen to make up for his quarterfinal loss to Damir Dzumhur in Shenzhen last week, he will start his campaign against Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund.
