Alexander Zverev still has a big problem he must solve in matches against Jannik Sinner

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The last month has marked, by far, the most successful period of Alexander Zverev’s career.

After years of being labelled the greatest player never to win a major, the German captured an elusive Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, taking advantage of a wide-open draw before beating Flavio Cobolli in the final.

Just over four weeks later, Zverev almost became the first player in the Open Era to win his second major crown immediately after clinching his first, having recorded his best-ever campaign at Wimbledon, finishing as the runner-up.

His conqueror in the final, as is the case at most big tournaments, was none other than defending champion and world number one Jannik Sinner, who came back from a set down to beat Zverev and secure his second consecutive Wimbledon trophy.

Who has more Wimbledon titles by 2036 between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz?

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Aside from the more important feats Sinner accomplished with his triumph, including increasing his major total to five and equalling the Wimbledon tallies of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Carlos Alcaraz, the Italian extended his dominant winning streak against Zverev to 10 matches.

Alexander Zverev’s struggles with Jannik Sinner’s serve

The streak, which dates back to 2024, has been a dominant one, with seven of the 10 matches being won in straight sets.

In fact, heading into the Wimbledon final, Zverev had not taken a set off Sinner in their previous six meetings.

Zverev finally won a set against Sinner in the Wimbledon final, and certainly delivered his best performance against the 24-year-old in quite some time.

But throughout the entirety of the clash, the big problem Sinner has posed to Zverev across the history of their rivalry reared its head once again: His serve.

Sinner’s serve was an issue for many in SW19, with the five-time Grand Slam champion being broken just once in the second week of the Championships.

Even Novak Djokovic, widely considered the greatest returner of all time, could not break Sinner’s serve once during their semifinal clash.

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And it was no different for Zverev in the final, although the problem is much more extensive for the 29-year-old than it is for Djokovic.

Djokovic broke Sinner’s serve three times in their previous meeting at the Australian Open earlier this year, having created eight break point opportunities in total.

Zverev, on the other hand, has not broken the Sinner serve since the Vienna Open final in October 2025, 87 service games ago.

The 2026 season has seen Zverev come on leaps and bounds, with big improvements made to his forehand and aggressiveness.

But if he is to ever snap the losing streak against Sinner, Zverev needs to solve the issues on return.

Where Alexander Zverev ranks in return on the ATP Tour

Zverev is not a bad returner by any stretch, but the world number two does not exactly rank highly when it comes to ATP statistics.

Return rating is a score used by the ATP Tour that takes into account percentage of points won on first and second serve return, percentage of return games won, and percentage of break points converted.

Zverev has a return rating of 143.0, which ranks 19th on the ATP Tour, a fair distance away from Alcaraz and Sinner, who rank first and second, respectively, with ratings of 162.8 and 162.2.

Among the four categories that make up the return rating, Zverev ranks the lowest in percentage of points won on first serve return.

He is 27th on the tour in that department, with a percentage of 28.8%, compared to Alcaraz’s tally of 34.6% and Sinner’s 33.0%.