Despite his excellent career, Alexander Zverev has also endured many challenging moments. The German chose a physically painful time as his toughest experience.
Zverev's achievements include an Olympic gold medal, seven ATP Masters 1000 titles, 23 ATP titles overall, and reaching No. 2 in the rankings on multiple occasions. He is one of the most accomplished players of the last few years.
However, winning a Grand Slam and becoming the world No. 1 have eluded him. The 27-year-old has come close to both but is yet to make the next step despite high expectations because of how talented he has been since his teenage years.
Zverev has reached two Grand Slam finals. He led the now-retired Dominic Thiem by two sets to love in the 2020 US Open final, but the Austrian staged a dramatic recovery to triumph in a deciding set tiebreak and secure his only Grand Slam title.
The German's French Open final loss this year was similarly heartbreaking. Zverev took a two-set to one lead against Carlos Alcaraz before the 21-year-old recovered to claim a fourth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.
Opinions differ about why Zverev has yet to get over the line in a Grand Slam final. Roger Federer spoke bluntly about the issue in September before the Laver Cup, saying he plays way too passively in big moments and could not win a major title with that approach.
Some might have expected Zverev to pick one of his Grand Slam final losses as the toughest moment. Instead, this year's Paris Masters champion chose the horrific injury he sustained against Rafael Nadal at the 2022 French Open semifinal.
Nadal and Zverev were in the middle of an epic battle when the current world No. 2 endured an ankle injury that left him screaming and required him to leave the court on crutches. The Olympic gold medalist missed the rest of 2022 because of the injury.
In a video with his racket sponsor Head, Zverev reflected on that dreadful moment and why he considers it to be the toughest moment of his career more than two years since the incident occurred.
"I mean, 2022 at the French Open was the toughest moment of my career. I was one match away from being world No 1, playing probably the best tennis of my life against the greatest clay court player to ever live in Rafael Nadal."
"And it was a tough moment for me, because even if I lose the match, right, it’s Nadal – anything could happen. You can lose at the French Open to him, I mean everybody has lost [to] him before. So it’s not a surprise, even if you lose."
"But, knowing in the back of my mind I need to win one match within three months to become world No 1, that was difficult for me. And obviously being in a cast and not being able to not only play, but just simply to walk and do daily things, that was tough."
Zverev also discussed how proud he was to reach the semifinal at Roland Garros a year later after working hard to recover from that injury.
"A year later, then being in the semi-finals, it was a great moment – it was definitely a great moment. At the same time, I was not where I was before the injury, where I said: ‘OK, I’m in the semi-finals, and I feel like I can win the tournament.’"
"I feel like in the semi-finals I’ve reached my limit, which is difficult to say and difficult to admit, but that was the case, it was back then – which is completely different now. I have the feeling, I’ve won big tournaments again. I’ve made semi-finals, finals of big tournaments as well, so I’m happy where I am."
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