Alexander Zverev admitted to feeling quite confident ahead of the Wimbledon Championships this year, which hasn't been the case in the past.
The German player arrived with similar confidence in Paris and backed it up by going to the final and winning two sets against Carlos Alcaraz. He didn't win the trophy, but he played about as well as he could, and his result showed it.
Zverev now has similar confidence ahead of this year's Wimbledon, even though this time, he doesn't have previous results to back it. Compared to Roland Garros, where he truly had amazing performances in years past, his past results at Wimbledon were never that good, as he never made it past the fourth round.
"I've talked about it with my brother, it's the first time that I really feel like I'm here to be a competitor, to maybe win the title. I didn't feel like that in the previous years, I didn't feel like I was capable."
"I also think it's the most open Wimbledon we have had in the last 20 years in terms of favorites, potential winners. There are many guys who have a good chance of going deep and winning the tournament."
Zverev is certainly right that it's the most open Wimbledon in the past few years. Novak Djokovic is still among the favorites due to his sheer greatness, but players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have certainly proven that they're capable of winning this event as well.
"I don't think something like this happened for at least 20 years before Roger started playing. After Roger came Rafa, Novak and Andy. There was always a very limited number of guys really capable of competing and winning tournaments."
Daniil Medvedev probably feels the same as does Stefanos Tsitsipas and now, obviously, Zverev. The German has all the tools needed to put together a really great performance on the grass, but it will largely depend on how well he can serve.
It carried him far in Paris and can carry him even more on the grass, but time will tell. We haven't seen it before, and his most recent grass showing proved that he has a lot to improve on the surface.