Alexander Zverev is finally into the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time in his career.
Unfortunately for the No. 2 seed, that’s where the good news ends.
Standing in Zverev’s way of the semis on Wednesday is Taylor Fritz. It’s a matchup that may not be Jannik Sinner-level bad for the German, but it’s pretty terrible. Fritz is dominating the head-to-head series 10-5 and has defeated Zverev a hard-to-believe seven times in a row. The American’s streak began with a five-set victory at the All-England Club in 2024 and features two other wins on grass — 6-3, 7-6(0) in the 2025 Stuttgart final and 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 a few weeks ago in Halle.
Fritz is flying into Wednesday’s showdown, too. The world No. 7 is 11-2 on grass this summer with runner-up performances in both Stuttgart and Halle followed by Wimbledon victories over Dusan Lajovic, Patrick Kypson, Lorenzo Sonego, and Alexander Bublik. Only Sonego managed to take a single set in the first four rounds. Fritz is now an unbelievable 34-6 on grass dating back to 2024.
It is a much different story for Zverev, for whom the green stuff has always been his worst surface. The 29-year-old is by no means bad on it, but zero grass-court titles and — until now — zero trips to the quarters in SW19 is nothing short of alarming. Zverev’s best Wimbledon result has come at the expense of Alexander Blockx, Valentin Royer, Marcos Giron, and Jiri Lehecka. Similar to his recent run to his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, the competition level has been thoroughly unspectacular. Despite that, Zverev required fourth-set tiebreakers against both Blockx and Lehecka.
Moreover, the world No. 3 had to play the last two sets of his quarterfinal match against Lehecka on Tuesday after it was suspended by the 11:00 curfew. No days off may not be a decisive factor after playing two sets, but it certainly doesn’t help.
As their past history against each other suggests, Fritz has basically every edge in this matchup. His serve (especially second serve) and backhand are every bit as good as Zverev’s, his forehand is far superior, and he moves better on grass. As if that isn’t enough, Fritz’s intangible advantages are perhaps even more important. He goes into this match knowing he can and should win. For Zverev, belief has to be lacking.
Pick: Fritz in 4
Channel Slam Loading for Zverev? Maybe, maybe not Zverev doesn’t trust himself against Sinner. But he has nothing to lose he has already exceeded expectations and having already won a major he can now play with more freedom. Sinner has a lot to lose, as the defending champion and despite enormous success this year he is yet to win a major.
he would beat Djokovic, but not Sinner
Honestly Sinner hasn’t looked invincible this year despite not facing any seeded players. Sinner has to raise his level significantly to beat Sinner. Zverev is serving from the tree this year and on the strength of his serve alone he poses a serious threat to anyone.
you got the Djokovic match spot on. this one, not so much.
Fritz was hurt, otherwise would have won — as usual
🙂 like Nadal – never lost when not injured
Ricky makes an excuse for his guy that he picked to win, as usual, face it man, Fritz just isn’t that good.
I dunno about that, he might have the h2h advantage, but a lot of those matches were close
Nadals retired why bring him into this
lol what.
Well he could still come out of retirement- and anyway, arent we allowed to bring retired players into the tennis discussion??
I thought with the draw Fritz had this year + Alcaraz out injured and Sinner not looking unbeatable this was a slim chance for him to bag a major. Such opportunities don’t come around too often.