Alexander Zverev has struggled to rediscover his form since losing in the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.
Zverev was dejected after the Australian Open final, which was his third consecutive Grand Slam final defeat after also suffering heartbreaking losses at the US Open (2020) and Roland Garros (2024).
After his defeat in Melbourne, the German elected to play the South American clay court swing for the first time, but Zverev’s schedule change did not go to plan.
This drop in form carried on into Indian Wells, where Zverev set an unwanted record after losing his opening match at the Masters 1000 tournament.
Steve Johnson admits what he got wrong about Alexander Zverev
Despite being the top seed, Zverev lost to Tallon Griekspoor as his bid to close the gap on banned world number one Jannik Sinner took another hit.
Since Zverev lost the Australian Open final, he has won only four of his eight matches in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco and most recently Indian Wells.
When speaking about Zverev’s drop in form, former professional tennis player Steve Johnson has admitted that what he got wrong about the 27-year-old since the Australian Open final.
However, the former world number 21 claimed that he did think Zverev would return to form in time.
“Yeah, I don’t know if we saw this coming,” Johnson admitted on the Nothing Major Podcast. “I’m pretty sure I stated after he lost the Australian Open that you know when he made those comments, you know that he’s like ‘I’m just not good enough’, you know he went on and on like you know saying he’s just not ready to win a major. I said he would be fine, he’s going to be fine at Indian Wells and Miami, he’s going to win some of these tournaments and all that matters is the next Grand Slam in May, which is the French for him.
“I think I was wrong on that prediction, as I am with many, many other predictions. He has looked out of sorts, flat, just not his best tennis. He has kind of reverted back to his old style of tennis where he’s just kind of rallying and that has won him hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of matches on tour, but I liked what he was doing earlier, you know late last year early this year kind of trying to be more aggressive from the ground and I think he’s just kind of gone backwards.
“I don’t know if that’s just a by-product of losing the Australian Open final and the mental and emotional toll that took on him. You know, I don’t know what it feels like to be a number one seed in a Masters Series, but that has to be some immense pressure, as being the top dog with Sinner being out and it’s just something that he hasn’t gotten hold of yet.
“I think he’ll be fine, I really do think he’ll be fine, I think this is just a bump in the road. But, the last month down in the golden swing and his start here in Indian Wells, not great.
“So, there’s a lot better tennis for him to be played, it’s just kind of interesting to see him in this rut of kind of just an emotional like flat period, where you don’t see the excitement and the energy that he usually does bring to the court.”
Jack Sock offers Alexander Zverev advice on how he can return to form
Following up on Johnson’s comments, former top 10 player Jack Sock offered Zverev some advice ahead of the Miami Open.
“Well obviously, we all put hours on the practise court, we all put work in on the practise court when you’re not at tournaments and that’s probably the initial thing that you’ll want to do is get out there and think you need more reps,” Sock added.
“For me honestly, personally when I was playing I would go back and watch matches a little bit or go watch some like highlights of when I was playing well or when I thought I was playing well and try to just like honestly envision doing that again in my head and then just try and go execute it in the next match.
“There’s only so many balls we can hit you know on the practise court, hours in the gym, all those things we all took care of what we needed to there and then.
“It’s more just confidence mentally when you step on the court, you’re not fixing your forehand or backhand or anything at that point in your career, so yeah for me I would go try to pump myself up by watching highlights of when I thought I was playing well and know that I can produce that product again.”
Zverev will also be the top seed at the Miami Open, where he achieved his best result in 2017 after reaching the final.
The ATP main draw of the Miami tournament gets underway on Wednesday March 19.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
