DOES ZVEREV CARRY THE MENTAL FORTITUDE TO AVOID TENNIS' MOST UNWANTED TAG?
- Sean A'Hearn
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
"I don't want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam."
Those were the words of a sombre Alexander Zverev following his straight sets loss to Jannik Sinner at this year’s Australian Open final.
This was also Zverev's third defeat in a Grand Slam final, after the US Open in 2020 and Roland-Garros last year.
Many great players fall into the 'best players who never won a slam' category.
David Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Tomáš Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nikolay Davydenko were all blocked out by some truly incredible players in their primes.
Davydenko was arguably the best player to never feature in a Grand Slam final, having reached four major semi-finals, winning three Masters 1000 titles and, perhaps most impressively, securing a 6-5 head-to-head record against Rafael Nadal.
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Meanwhile, Marcelo Rios has the unhappy tag of being the only former ATP world No.1 to have not won a Grand Slam title, losing his only major final at the 1998 Australian Open in straight sets to Petr Korda.
Nalbandian, famously, is still the only player to have defeated the 'big 3' of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Nadal at the same tournament, doing so at the 2007 Madrid Masters.
Alongside Nalbandian, Berdych, Tsonga and Ferrer each made one Grand Slam final and were all consistent, top-10 players in their prime.
There are also a bunch of two-time Slam finalists who couldn’t get over the line, including Miloslav Mečíř, Cédric Pioline, Àlex Corretja, Todd Martin, Mark Philippoussis, Robin Soderling, Kevin Anderson and, of course, Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Aside from Zverev, there is only one active player who has failed to win a Grand Slam title on three attempts: Casper Ruud.
Yet with the skill set that he possesses, it’s hard not to argue that Zverev is the best player to have never won a major.
Since his 2025 Australian Open defeat, the German's form has been patchy at best, which you could attribute to mental fatigue after failing three times to win a maiden major title.
While he won the Munich Open in his native Germany, the world No.2 went out in the opening rounds of both Indian Wells and Monte Carlo.
Bowing out to Francisco Cerúndolo for the second year in a row at Madrid last week, Zverev has officially failed to capitalise on Sinner’s three-month absence from the tour, with the Italian returning to competitive play in Rome this week.
The German started as the top-seed in all eight tournaments he played and underperformed at all but one.
However, despite the loss in Madrid, Zverev was surprisingly upbeat.
"I felt like I played okay, but honestly, he played better than me," he told The First Serve.
"I feel like my game is improving…there's not too much wrong with my game. Today my opponent was better."
This positive attitude may have stemmed from a match Zverev felt turned his 2025 season around.
"I was struggling the weeks before that, I really needed the win in Munich," he said. "I really needed the match against [Tallon] Griekspoor there, that was actually a bit of a turnaround point for me.
"Winning tournaments always gives you confidence, I needed that."
Zverev had lost to Griekspoor at Indian Wells earlier in the year, but exacted his revenge on the Dutch star in Munich to give him a much-needed morale boost.
Still, the German will need to channel this confidence if he is to secure the Grand Slam title he so desperately craves. After all, with Sinner back along with Carlos Alcaraz, the defending Roland-Garros and Wimbledon champion, he'll have his work cut out for him.
Beyond Sinner and Alcaraz, the draws also feel very open on the ATP tour right now, with rising stars like Jack Draper, Jakub Menšík and Holger Rune all winning tournaments this year.
Zverev certainly feels the depth in men's tennis is stronger now than when he exploded onto the scene eight years ago.
"In 2017, the top-10 was very strong, and we had the four best players in the world, Rafa, Novak, Roger, Andy [Murray], Stan [Wawrinka], Delpo [Del Potro]. But the level from 10-20, 20-30 was much lower," he stated.
"Now, the depth is much stronger."
However, there is a silver lining.
If Zverev can somehow will himself to another major final, there is a statistic that he can take comfort from. Every player who lost their first three Grand Slam finals won on their fourth attempt.
There are only five players on this list: Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanišević, Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem.
Zverev could also take some comfort from his Australian Open vanquisher.
After all, it was Sinner who consoled him with some reassuring words during the trophy presentation.
"He said that I will definitely lift one of those trophies in my career, and I’m too good not to – that's his words," Zverev recalled during his post-match press conference.
On the other hand, if Zverev loses another Grand Slam final, that might be a loss too painful to overcome and would surely cement him as the best player to have never won a major, creating unwanted history in the process.
That's if he even makes it to another Slam final, which, based on current form and the depth in men's tennis right now, is a big if.
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