Renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou reckons Alexander Zverev is lacking the aggressiveness, that one needs to win the big moments of the Grand Slam finals against in-form players. Zverev suffered a straight-set loss against World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday.
The German has qualified for three Major finals but has failed to go all the way in a single one of them. Zverev suffered a horrific ankle injury in the Roland Garros 2022 semifinal against Rafael Nadal and since then he has made a good comeback but he is yet to end his Grand Slam hoodoo.
Zverev is currently World No.2 in the PIF ATP Rankings but the French coach believes he needs to take the game head on if he has to add a Slam title to his cabinet.
“I don’t think that Sascha loses this Grand Slam final, at least the last one, because he doesn’t believe enough. I think he does believe,” Patrick Mouratoglou said about Alexander Zverev in an Instagram reel on Thursday.
“But I think that there’s still things he’s lacking in his game. He improved, for sure. He’s no. 2 in the world now, he came back stronger, and I think he added a lot of things in his game. When it comes to the big moments, he lacks being bold, being aggressive, taking the risk, taking the match, really taking it.”
Mouratoglou feels it is crucial for Zverev to play at his absolute best to get the desired results in big matches.
“He pushes himself to do it but it’s not natural yet. I think he needs more time,” he added. “I think he needs to do it more and more and more and more and find better efficiency.”
The renowned coach said Zverev will need to take more risks and he can not play a defensive game in big matches.
“If you look at the match, he went to the net a lot. Especially in the first part of the match,” Mouratoglou said. “He got passed every time. So at some point, when it comes to the big moment, you want to do it but the history of the match tells you every time almost you go, you lose.”
“So he stayed and stayed in what he feels secure, which is staying behind the baseline and just missing. And in that match, all the big moments, most of them he decided to play and not miss. Jannik is not gonna miss either,” he added. “He is going to play faster. So this is not how he can win against those guys. He has to keep working, and I’m sure he will, on developing his game.”
Zverev will be next seen in action in the Mexican Open.
