Alexander Zverev has not been able to take advantage of Jannik Sinner’s absence from the ATP Tour.
Zverev has struggled since the Australian Open, where he lost in the final to the aforementioned Sinner.
After Sinner was banned from tennis, many sensed that there was a potential opportunity for Zverev to bridge the gap on the world number one ranking.
However, after winning only four of his last eight matches since the Australian Open, Zverev set an unwanted record at Indian Wells.
Alexander Zverev says what he does better than Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Zverev was particularly critical of his serve after losing to Tallon Griekspoor at Indian Wells, a part of his game that is usually a weapon.
When speaking on the latest edition of his podcast with his former ATP pro brother, Mischa, Zverev claimed that usually he thinks his serve is stronger than his two biggest rivals on tour.
The world number two also admitted that there were two elements of his game that need work.
“I think there are certain shots in my game which I still need to improve,” said Zverev. “I still think Carlos and Jannik do things a lot better than me. I do believe that. I think there are certain things I can improve on.
“I serve better than both of them probably, but I am 6ft 6. Carlos can’t just grow six more inches. But there are certain things that they do better that I can improve and it’s not just something physical, like height.
“Short high forehands is the number one thing we are working on every day for the past four or five months now. That is just one of the things, but I think that is the main focus.
“When they get a high short ball the point is over, 95% of the time. It’s either a winner or an error. With me the point continues.”
Zverev pinpointed the short high forehands as his top priority to improve, suggesting that Sinner and Alcaraz hit them with a lot more conviction than he does.
This was responded to by former world number one Jim Courier, who was a guest on Zverev’s podcast, and suggested that three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka was able to make similar alterations to his game under the guidance of Magnus Norman.
“This is a lot of what Magnus Norman did with Stan Wawrinka,” said Courier. “Stan was a good player. Perennially 10 to 25 in the world. But his forehand he just didn’t trust it, especially in big moments he was very conservative with it.
“We played him in Davis Cup one year, Mardy Fish played him, and he just kept hitting the ball to the forehand. Both of those forehands could go off but Stan’s was the one which flinched and Mardy was able to beat him there.
“A couple of years later after Magnus had convinced him to commit any time the ball was short or in a strike zone, he was a different player. Because not only did he start to scare his opponents, they felt like it wasn’t a safe place to go any more, but he also started to trust it.”
Alexander Zverev’s Service Stats compared to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
Zverev’s claim about his serve does have some evidence to support it, with the ATP’s service rating metric backing him up over the past 52 weeks.
From the past year, Zverev sits in third place on the ATP Tour behind the huge serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Matteo Berrettini.
However, he is only marginally ahead of Sinner, who sits in fourth overall with a serve rating of 296.5.
Alcaraz is slightly down on that at 283.8, placing him just behind Novak Djokovic in 10th on the ATP Tour.
However, in recent months Alcaraz has made changes to his serve that he thinks will be beneficial to his game in the long run.
What is particularly noticeable about Zverev’s service statistics is his high first service percentage, only bettered by Sebastian Baez on the ATP Tour.
However, he does fall behind both Sinner and Alcaraz in terms of second serve points won and places 12th overall on the ATP Tour in that category.
| Service Stats | Alexander Zverev | Jannik Sinner | Carlos Alcaraz |
| First Serve % | 70.1 (1) | 61.1 (3) | 66.7 (2) |
| First Serve Win % | 76.9 (2) | 79.8 (1) | 73.4 (3) |
| Second Serve Win % | 54.3 (3) | 58.5 (1) | 57.1 (2) |
| Service Games Win % | 89.2 (2) | 91.4 (1) | 85.7 (3) |
| Average Aces Per Match | 9.2 (1) | 7.6 (2) | 5.1 (3) |
| Average Double Faults Per Match | 2.4 (3) | 1.9 (1) | 2.3 (2) |
| ATP Serve Rating | 297.3 (1) | 296.5 (2) | 283.8 (3) |
After exiting Indian Wells early, Zverev has had a lot of time to reconvene and work on his game ahead of the Miami Open.
He will return as the top seed for the second half of the sunshine double that gets underway on Tuesday March 12.
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