Alexander Zverev struggled to hold back the tears moments after missing out on his maiden US Open title but one person thinks the experience has a silver lining.
Dirk Hordorff has hailed his compatriot’s run during an interview with UbiTennis. At Flushing Meadows a determined Zverev was at times far from his best after coming back from a set down in three of his matches en route to the final. Standing in his way of the trophy was Austria’s Dominic Thiem who he has known since his teenage years. After racing to a two-set lead, Zverev was unable to maintain his stronghold as Thiem rallied back to win. To add to the frustration Zverev served for the title whilst leading 5-3 in the decider.
“It’s impressive how good Sascha handled his first final. The result, as Dominic said, was that both of them deserved to be Champions and for me they showed a fantastic fight with the closest possible result,” Hordorff told UbiTennis.
“I believe both will profit from this success and Sascha will be a stronger player after the US Open than before the US Open.”
Hordorff is a veteran in the world of tennis who has worked alongside the likes of Rainer Schuettler, Vasek Pospisil and Janko Tipsarevic. Besides his work in his home country of Germany, he was also a Davis Cup and Olympic coach for Taiwan. At present his role within the German Tennis Federation (DTB) focuses on High Performance Sport. In his view, Zverev couldn’t have done any more in the US Open final.
“I don’t think it would be fair to think about mistakes and what he did wrong when he started with a two-set lead, stayed competitive over the next two and had a lot of chances in the final set,” he argues.
“Sascha played against one of the best players in the world who played three finals before. Dominic was the favourite, the higher ranked player. Sascha gave all he had on the court and for me deserves a lot of respect for his performance.”
The 23-year-old has long been tipped as one of the players likely to take over from the reign of the Big Three in the future. A trio consisting of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who are all at least 10 years older than the German. He has been ranked as high as third in the world and is only one out of five active players to win three or more Masters 1000 titles. The others are the Big Three contingent, as well as Andy Murray.
Along with the success comes a greater burden of expectation. Something the world No.7 has grown accustomed to during his time as a player. He is mentored on the Tour by his father Alexander. A former player himself who represented the Soviet Union and won two gold medals at the 1985 Summer Universiade. Furthermore, Zverev has also enlisted the help of Spain’s David Ferrer.
“He has achieved a lot very early in his career and fulfilled the expectations which is not easy,” Hordorff reflects. “Winning the ATP Finals in London two years ago was a great performance. This year to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, now the Final in New York at the US Open shows his talent and his possibilities for the future.
“For sure this success will raise the expectations and the pressure for him.”
The US Open provided tennis fans with a reminder of what a major final is like without a member of the Big Three present. Something that hadn’t happened on the Tour since 2014 at the same tournament. Although it is hard to judge how much of a breakthrough this was given Djokovic got disqualified, Federer was injured and Nadal opted not to play due to health-related concerns.
“The Top Three have dominated the last two decades and they are being challenged by the upcoming generation,” said the DTB vice-president. “Thiem, Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are all making big progress. But when will the next generation take over nobody can say. Nevertheless, it’s interesting having more players fighting for the top spot. Tennis will profit from this rivalry.”
A boom in Germany?
It was a year before Zverev was born when a German man last lifted a Grand Slam trophy with Boris Becker triumphing at the 1996 Australian Open. Despite the country’s well established tennis system Becker and Michael Stich are the only men to have won a major title in the Open Era. The hope for the DTB is that Zverev will be the country’s third and trigger a surge in popularity.
Although credit must also be given to the women too, especially Angelique Kerber’s achievements in recent years where she has won a trio of major titles and spent 34 weeks as world No.1. The 14th longest period held by a female player in history. The first belongs to another German in the form of Steffi Graf (377 weeks).
“Germany is very happy to have Angelique Kerber as a Grand Slam Champion and former No.1 in the world, as well as Zverev who is a top male player in the world,” said Hordorff. “For sure it will help the DTB to raise the promotion of Tennis. And we are very positive on the great Impact Sascha will have in the upcoming years for tennis in Germany.”
According to one report published on Tennisnet, an average of 800,000 viewers watched Zverev’s US Open clash in Germany which continued into the early hours of Monday morning. In comparison Thiem’s broadcast on ServusTV attracted 400,000 viewers in what was a 30% market share among viewers aged 12 and over. Germany’s population is roughly eight times bigger than that of Austria.
The question is will Zverev’s breakthrough have a bigger impact on his home country than that of Kerber? It is tough to measure and one Hordorff himself is refusing to go into.
“I don’t think we should try to compare,” he states. “Kerber’s success was great, and she still has a very positive Impact for Tennis in Germany. Zverev reaching the final at the US Open also will help German Tennis and I hope he will reach in the future similar success Angie reached in the past years.’
“It’s great to have such successful players and I am sure that both will help a lot for tennis in Germany.”
Zverev will return to action next week at the French Open where he will be bidding to go beyond the quarter-final stage for the first time in his career.
Zverev’s career in numbers
3 – his highest ranking which was first achieved back in 2017
11 – number of ATP titles he has won
14 – number of times he has won a match in five sets
24 – wins over top 10 players
235 – number of ATP Tour wins
$22,561,920 – prize money he has won so far in his career which is the 16th highest in the ATP Tour history
