GERMAN youngster Alexander Zverev is one of tennis’ bright young stars. He finished 2018 with consecutive straight set victories over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic en route to winning the biggest title of his career, the ATP Finals. As such, Zverev came into 2019 with the number four ranking and lofty expectations that were difficult to live up to.

Overall, Zverev had an up and down season in 2019. He started with a fourth round exit at the Australian Open to Milos Raonic in straight sets, before coming runner-up to Nick Kyrgios at the Mexican Open. Zverev struggled at his next six tournaments, failing to win more than one match in any of them.

He turned his form around in May, winning his only title of 2019 at the Geneva Open before reaching the French Open quarter finals, where he was defeated by Djokovic 7-5 6-2 6-2. This form did not continue at Wimbledon, as he suffered a shock loss in the first round to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely in four sets. Zverev blamed his mental state for the loss, and said “my confidence is below zero right now”. He regained some confidence in strong performances at the German Open and Canadian Open, and finished the year with a fourth round berth at the US Open and by coming runner-up at the Shanghai Masters.

Zverev ended the year ranked seventh overall with a win-loss of 44-25. Wins over Federer and Rafael Nadal late in the year proved that he is capable of beating top quality players when he is composed, focused and dominating court position. Confidence and consistency are his main issues, as a lack of confidence often leads to him being less aggressive from the baseline. When this happens, he can fall victim to lower ranked opponents that he is expected to beat. In 2020, Zverev is capable of reaching a Grand Slam final if he can play aggressive tennis consistently, particularly on hard courts.