Jim Courier’s theory over why Taylor Fritz keeps on beating Alexander Zverev has been revealed

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Taylor Fritz beat Alexander Zverev to clinch the Laver Cup title for Team World in San Francisco.

Fritz had already beaten Carlos Alcaraz at the Laver Cup, in his first ever win over the world number one.

Someone who he is more comfortable against is Zverev, who Fritz actually chose to play against when Team World captain Andre Agassi was selecting his players for the final day.

This was a sensible decision from the American number one, with Fritz winning the Laver Cup for Team World after beating Zverev once again.

The key reason why Jim Courier believes Taylor Fritz keeps beating Alexander Zverev

Zverev once led the head-to-head against Fritz 5-3, but has since lost their last six meetings.

This includes big matches in the latter stages of Wimbledon and the US Open, with Zverev joking with Fritz about their recent head-to-head after losing the Stuttgart final earlier this year.

When discussing Fritz’s dominance against Zverev on the latest episode of the ‘Court-Side with Beilinson Tennis’ show, Tennis Hall of Fame journalist Steve Flink brought up a comment former world number one Jim Courier had made about this rivalry.

According to Flink, Courier believes that the forehand is the key reason as to why Fritz continues to beat Zverev.

“Jim Courier I thought analysed it beautifully up front before the match,” said Flink. “He said, ‘If you look and you compare their games. Two great servers, you could argue about who is the better server. Two great backhands, you could debate that. But, you don’t debate who has the better forehand’.

“And that’s the separating factor between these two, and I thought actually there was a brief spell where Zverev’s forehand was surprisingly good and aggressive and finding the corners and it was terrific for a while, but he doesn’t sustain his belief in it. He doesn’t sustain his belief in continuing to go for it and once he backs off a bit then Fritz just jumps on him.”

The reason why Alexander Zverev claimed Taylor Fritz makes him ‘uncomfortable’

Following these defeats to Fritz, Zverev has also been asked to explain why he thinks he struggles so much against the American.

After losing to Fritz in the semifinals of the ATP Finals last year, Zverev spoke about how different matchups favour different players.

In his response, Zverev suggested that he prefers playing Jannik Sinner over Fritz.

“He’s an uncomfortable player for me,” Zverev said in his post-match press conference at the time. “I think it’s no secret. I think there are players that are more comfortable for some opponents and there are players that are less comfortable.

“I talked to Carlos [Alcaraz] about it, which is funny. I mean, I think we have quite a good relationship, quite a good friendship. It’s funny, his very, very comfortable opponents are the complete opposite to me. His uncomfortable opponents are the complete opposite to me, as well. It’s funny how matchups work in tennis.

“For him, I think some of the most comfortable opponents is Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz. For me it’s completely the opposite. He really doesn’t like playing some of the big hitters like a Jannik Sinner. He’s a great player, No 1 in the world, for sure, but I still enjoy playing him.

“It’s funny how matchups in tennis work. Not every match is the same just purely based on ranking and the higher-ranked player is going to win. That’s not how it works.”

The next time that Zverev could play Fritz is at the Shanghai Masters, but he is playing another tournament in China first.

Zverev is the second seed at the ATP 500 event in Beijing this week, where he will play Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the first round.