PETE ZIEBRON
PART 1 of 3
After spending two full days at Indian Wells this year, the play and performances of three players jumped out at me: Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin. Last year in Cincinnati, I watched Zverev and Goffin lose matches, despite competing exceptionally well. Two years ago in Cincinnati, I saw Thiem lose to a veteran player nearing the end of his career. Today's look will be at Alexander Zverev, who defeated Gilles Simon 6-2 6-2 on Stadium 3 in the opening match on Tuesday, March 15.
Those that attended the Zverev-Simon match knew why they were there - to see how a player on the rise, of whom much is expected in the future, would compete against a crafty veteran. Spectators would not be disappointed in what they witnessed.
Let's turn back the clock however, to last August in Cincinnati where Zverev would take on Borna Coric in the first round. Zverev advanced successfully through qualifying, defeating Benjamin Becker and Denis Istomin before meeting the Croat on Grandstand Court.
The previous year, Alexander Zverev appeared on the radar as he advanced to the semifinals of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg before falling to world 7 David Ferrer. At that time, Zverev was ranked #285 and rose to #161 as a result of his run in Hamburg.
Getting back to last year in Cincy, Zverev entered the Masters 1000 event ranked #85 and had reached the quarters in Washington the previous week, having defeated Kevin Anderson and Alexandr Dolgopolov before falling to Marin Cilic in an extremely competitive battle 5-7 6-7(3). Against the world #38 Coric, Zverev roared back to win the 2nd set 6-3 after dropping a tight opening set 5-7. There was very little between the two rising stars in the final set as it went to a tiebreaker.
In the breaker, Zverev raced to a lead however Coric would hold his ground. The fiery immaturity of Zverev would cost him dearly in the breaker as Coric would ultimately prevail 7-5 in the final set tiebreak. The match would be a personal highlight for me from the 2015 Western & Southern Open. The next day, I asked Rob Koenig, who provided commentary of the match for ATP Media whom he thought would have the better career in the end. Koenig shared with me that he believed that Zverev had the better game and ultimately would have a more successful career. This is a comparison I look forward to watching unfold the next few years.
Two weeks ago at Indian Wells, Zverev won a pair of three set matches against Ivan Dodig and Grigor Dimitrov to book his spot in the third round opposite Gilles Simon. Zverev arrived in California having lost two disappointing matches in Davis Cup to the Czech Republic, including his second loss in as many weeks to Tomas Berdych - Zverev was up 2 sets to 1 in the Davis Cup tie.
Meanwhile, Simon, who somehow found a way to survive Evgeny Donskoy at the Australian Open, would give world #1 and eventual Champion Novak Djokovic fits in Melbourne. Since that time, Simon has struggled, including losing a tough 3 setter to Zverev in Rotterdam in February.
At Indian Wells, Simon did not play poorly against Zverev despite winning just 4 games in a 2-6 2-6 loss. The Stadium 3 crowd was dazzled by Zverev as he overpowered Simon, who simply had no answers for the young German. This would be confirmed for me the next day when I spoke with Spectator as we watched action on Court 2. The man from Uruguay told me that he was sitting very close to Simon's box for the match and that Simon was telling his coach that he was not able to do much with the spin that Zverev was using against him. This would be telling as Zverev indeed mixed up his game well, alternating power and spin to throw Simon completely off his game and give him absolutely no rhythm all match long.
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden anticipated an upset the next day as Zverev faced world #5 Rafael Nadal. Zverev would win the opening set in a tiebreaker, get bagel led in the second set and would race to a 5-2 lead in the third, where he would hold a match point. Eventually, the match point was lost, Zverev tightened up and Nadal somehow emerged as the victor.
Just as he did following the disappointing loss to Berdych in Davis Cup, I fully expect Alexander Zverev to quickly put this loss behind him and continue to rise up the ATP rankings.