With the exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev finds himself as the favorite for the Roland Garros title.
Zverev is still chasing his maiden career Grand Slam title, having previously lost all three finals that he has reached.
Rafael Jodar now stands in his way of a semifinal spot at Roland Garros, where the ATP number three has dropped just one set from his four matches.
Zverev is trying to be more aggressive in his bid to end his Grand Slam title drought, but such an approach has now been questioned by Andy Roddick amid the absence of Sinner and the injured Carlos Alcaraz.
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Andy Roddick suggests Alexander Zverev may need to make surprising change at Roland Garros
Roddick said on his Served podcast: “Someone who was searching for something in the first 25 minutes of their match today was Alexander Zverev.
“You could just feel the tension of this moment and this tournament with Sinner and Alcaraz [out].
“I think that is just what it’s going to be like, especially when he is a heavy favourite against a lucky loser in [Jesper] de Jong.
“I was kind of wondering something last night as I was sitting there thinking about this tournament.
“It’s funny, Zverev has been working on being more aggressive with his game. Serving and volleying more, first strike tennis a bit more.
“But that’s all to try and beat these two guys. Now that they are gone does he revert back to what has been working against the rest of the earth?
“It’s an interesting thing where he came out of the blocks and was missing and I wanted him to go back to the thing he was so good at, which was driving backhands through the court, creating a little height on that forehand and just holding serve all the time.
“Can he revert back to that now that the guys are out of the tournament? He will be facing a bit more power in the next match against Jodar.”
It remains to be seen what approach Zverev adopts against Jodar and indeed further on in the event should he make it that far.
But such a change certainly would be surprising given that it goes against everything that has ever been said about his game.
Alexander Zverev handed boost before Roland Garros clash vs Rafael Jodar
Zverev has very wisely been focusing on himself in Paris, even with all of the outside noise surrounding his chances.
It’s clear Zverev is the favorite to win Roland Garros, largely given results elsewhere but also thanks to his own efforts.
He defeated Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in round one, and followed that up by beating Tomas Machac 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Quentin Halys then proved a tougher test in round three, but the German triumphed 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, before he beat De Jong 7-6(7-3), 6-4, 6-1.
In stark contrast, Jodar has just played back-to-back five-set matches, which should be a real boost for Zverev for their quarterfinal clash.
In the Paris heat, the Spaniard played for four hours and 16 minutes against Alex Michelsen and three hours and 41 minutes against Pablo Carreno Busta.
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