Davis Cup heroics have been known to ignite players to epic hot streaks on the main tour. At the same time, Davis Cup heartbreak can send any man into a downward spiral when he tries to pick up the pieces of letting his team down by achieving individual success at normal tournaments.
Alexander Zverev is making sure the latter situation does not bog him down in 2016. The 18-year-old has been on a steady rise up the ATP rankings but he hit a proverbial wall during Davis Cup action earlier this month. Despite enjoying home-court advantage in Hannover, Germany, Zverev and company went down to the visiting Czech Republic 3-2. Zverev dropped his opening match to Tomas Berdych in five sets before a more surprising result spelled ultimate doom for the Germans. Lukas Rosol downed the youngster 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in a decisive fifth rubber.
“In Davis Cup I had a great match against Tomas on Friday, which took a lot of energy out of me,” Zverev reflected. “So it was tough for me to play on Sunday. Even [against Rosol] I felt like I played well. Just unlucky. We played one of the best teams in the world. They won Davis Cup twice in the last four years, so losing 3-2–me losing the deciding rubber–was painful.”
Zverev almost endured a rare three-match losing streak, as he found himself trailing Ivan Dodig by a set and a break in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open last Friday. But the world No. 58 stormed back for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. He also battled to a come-from-behind win against Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday. Dimitrov had taken the second set and had all the momentum with a break lead in the third, but the Bulgarian ultimately succumbed to the German’s onslaught 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
On his third life so to speak, Zverev finally enjoyed a routine day at the office on Tuesday. He trounced No. 16 seed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-2 in just one hour and seven minutes.
“I thought I played really well today,” Zverev assured. “I think I was really aggressive; hit a lot of winners. Beating someone like Gilles 6-2, 6-2 is something that gives me a lot of confidence for myself. He’s such a great player and such a tough competitor, as well…. Coming from Davis Cup where I had two tough losses, you know, here having those kind of wins gives me a lot of confidence back.”
He will need it, too, because next up on Wednesday is none other than 14-time major champion Rafael Nadal. Not unlike Zverev, the fifth-ranked Spaniard has done will to steady the ship in Indian Wells. Coming off two losses on the clay courts of South America (Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro), Nadal punched his ticket to the fourth round by defeating Gilles Muller and Fernando Verdasco. He survived sticky situations against both, needing three sets to beat Muller and persevering through an 11-9 second-set tiebreaker against Verdasco.
“Rafa, he’s one of the greatest in the sport ever, winning 14 slams,” Zverev noted. “He’s probably one of greatest fighters ever, so it [will] be a big honor to play against someone like him.”
Nadal reciprocated the praise, calling the youngster “a clear possible future No. 1,” an “amazing player,” and one who “has everything to become a big star.” Berdych said the same regarding Zverev’s No. 1 chances.
“If someone like him says something like that, it’s always a big honor,” Zverev responded when told of Berdych’s comment. “I know that I still have a lot of work ahead of me. As I said, I think it’s a long way there. Hopefully, maybe one day I can reach my potential, and then we’ll see where I can end up at.”
Win or lose against Nadal, Zverev’s Davis Cup defeats are clearly a thing of the past. The results in Indian Wells have confirmed what we already knew: Zverev is only going up.
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watch out, Nadal
Awesome results for Zverev.