Jim Courier tells Alexander Zverev what he’s done which he never believed was possible as he reaches the Australian Open final

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Alexander Zverev has now secured a third career Grand Slam final spot after his Australian Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic was cut short.

Djokovic was booed off the court after abruptly ending his Australian Open semi-final with Zverev, having been unable to shake off a leg injury.

Zverev has been praised for defending Djokovic, who was chasing an 11th title in Melbourne and a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title.

The 27-year-old German meanwhile is now aiming to win his first-ever Grand Slam title at the third time of asking.

ATP number two Zverev lost the 2020 US Open and 2024 French Open finals to Dominic Thiem and Carlos Alcaraz respectively, both in five-set thrillers.

Jim Courier can’t believe how much Alexander Zverev’s serve has improved at Australian Open

Djokovic had former rival Andy Murray by his side in Melbourne, a link-up former world number one Jim Courier alluded to in Zverev’s on-court interview as he touched on where the German has improved.

“So many players have brought in outside coaches, super coaches, and you have brought in a few but the last few years it has been all about family with your dad and brother Mischa,” said Courier.

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“We have watched the changes you have made to your game, especially your serve has become something that I didn’t think was possible.

“You make over 70 per cent first serves in play, you average over 200km/h. I want to understand the change and how you made the changes, because we noticed your ball toss has got much lower. How did that change come about as it’s working amazingly well?”

Zverev replied: “Technique, the number one thing I changed was with my brother more than anyone else. My brother was never a massive server but he hit his spots extremely well and could change it up with the slice and top spin and that.

“Actually what was happening was that I was tossing the ball so high up that I was waiting in that position for so long that I was losing momentum so I couldn’t accelerate any more after the ball was already dropping, so the number one thing we changed over the past four or five years is lowering the toss so it’s a fluid motion, so I hit the ball at the highest spot I can rather than waiting for it to go down.

“My serve speed on second especially went up quite a bit over the last few years and if I serve under 70% in the final I am going to blame you for that!”

Alexander Zverev service stats as he wins Australian Open semi-final vs Novak Djokovic

Zverev is understandably in high spirits ahead of another Grand Slam final, with the world number two clearly grateful for his coaching team.

His brother Mischa, an inactive player, and his father and former professional Alexander Zverev Sr. have certainly played key roles in his superb success over the years.

But all three will now be desperate to get over the line, with none of Zverev’s 23 ATP Tour titles having come at a Grand Slam.

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The trio have clearly been working on service behind the scenes, which has helped the German to second place in the service leaders charts on the ATP Tour.

His serve rating of 299.1 is behind only monster server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (302.2), while his percentage first serve figure of 71% is behind only Sebastian Baez’s 71.4%.