Alexander Zverev Jr.

Alexander Zverev

Zverev at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships
Full name	Alexander Zverev Jr.
Country (sports)	Germany
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Born	(1997-04-20) 20 April 1997 Hamburg, Germany
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	2013
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$ 1,932,630
Singles
Career record	62–48 (56.36% in Grand Slam and ATP World Tour main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	1 2 Challengers
Highest ranking	No. 20 (17 October 2016)
Current ranking	No. 24 (28 November 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2016)
French Open	3R (2016)
Wimbledon	3R (2016)
US Open	2R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	12–17
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 154 (19 September 2016)
Current ranking	No. 161 (28 November 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	1R (2016)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	1R (2016)
Hopman Cup	RR (2016)
Last updated on: 28 November 2016.

Alexander "Sascha" Zverev Jr.^[1] (born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player and currently the youngest player in the ATP top 50.^[2][3] The right-hander started playing at the age of five. He is the son of former Russian tennis player Alexander Zverev Sr. and the younger brother of tennis player Mischa Zverev.

In October 2016 he became the youngest player to enter the ATP top 20 since Novak Djokovic in 2006.

Junior career

Between October 2013 and June 2014, Zverev was the No. 1 ranked boys junior player. As a junior he compiled a singles win/loss record of 96–35.^[4]

Zverev reached the final of the 2013 French Open juniors, losing to Christian Garín.^[5] After losing in the third round of the 2013 Jr. Wimbledon Championships, he reached the semifinals of the 2013 Jr. US Open, losing to the eventual champion, Borna Ćorić.^[6]

Zverev won the 2014 Jr. Australian Open as the top seed, defeating second seed, Stefan Kozlov in the final.^[7]

Professional career

2014

In the first six months, Zverev competed in 10 Challenger tournaments, only qualifying for five. He also entered five ATP 250 events, but was unable to qualify for any of the main draws (although he did receive a wildcard for the Bavarian International Tennis Championships).

Zverev won his first ATP Challenger Tour title at the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig, defeating three players ranked within the top 100. He defeated No. 87 Tobias Kamke in the first round.^[8] He defeated the top seed and No. 56 Andrey Golubev in the semifinals, followed by No. 89 Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final. Zverev became the youngest player to win a Challenger tournament since Bernard Tomic won the Maccabi Men's Challenger in 2009.^[9]

The following week he received a wildcard for the Stuttgart Open, and lost to the eventual runner up Lukas Rosol in two tiebreaker sets.

Zverev won his first ATP tour-level match at the 2014 International German Open when he beat Robin Haase. He faced 5th seed Mikhail Youzhny in the 2nd round and won. This was his first career win over a top 20 player. He defeated 11th seed Santiago Giraldo in the round of the last 16, and went on to beat Tobias Kamke in the quarterfinals. He then lost against David Ferrer in the semi-finals.

2015

At the 2015 Miami Open, Zverev defeated Thiemo de Bakker and Joao Souza in qualification, and won over Samuel Groth in the first round to progress to the second round, where he was defeated by 26th seed Lukáš Rosol. At Munich he defeated Benjamin Becker in the first round, and was defeated by eventual runner-up Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round.

Zverev reached the semifinals of the Open du Pays d'Aix ATP Challenger tournament in May, where he lost to the eventual runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The following week, Zverev won an ATP Challenger Tour title at Heilbronn in Germany. He defeated Guido Pella in the final.^[10] En route to his title win in Heilbronn, he defeated the defending champion and No. 90 Jan-Lennard Struff in the semifinals. As a result of this tournament win, Zverev moved into the Top 100 for the first time, rising to a career-high ATP ranking of No. 85.

At the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham, he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin and Thomaz Bellucci to reach the round of 16 where he was defeated by Marcos Baghdatis. As a result of this, Zverev achieved a new career-high ATP ranking of No. 74.

At the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Zverev made it to the main draw of a grand slam for the first time, automatically qualifying as a top 100 ranked player. In the first round, Zverev was drawn against Teymuraz Gabashvili, whom he defeated in a thrilling five set match to record his first grand slam win, and book his place in the second round. He was then defeated by American wildcard Denis Kudla, (who went on to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time in his career) in four sets.

Zverev next participated at the 2015 Swedish Open, where he defeated qualifier Julian Reister, and fourth seed Juan Monaco to progress to the quarterfinals, where he defeated Thomaz Bellucci in three sets, despite being a set and a break down. In the semifinals he was defeated by second seed and eventual runner-up, Tommy Robredo. In his next tournament, the 2015 International German Open, Zverev was drawn against Tommy Robredo in a rematch of the Swedish Open semifinal. Despite winning the first set in a tiebreak, Zverev ultimately went on to lose in three sets, marking his second consecutive defeat to the Spaniard.

Zverev next competed at the 2015 Citi Open, where he defeated qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, fifth seed Kevin Anderson and Alexandr Dolgopolov en route to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by third seed Marin Cilic in two close sets.

He qualified for the 2015 US Open and lost a close five-set match to fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

2016 Top-20 ranking, first ATP title

Zverev represented Germany at the 2016 Hopman Cup with Sabine Lisicki. He was beaten by Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray in singles matches, however recorded a 6-2 6-2 win over French player Kenny de Schepper. In the first round of the Australian Open he lost to second seed Andy Murray in straight sets. He reached his first ATP semifinal of the year at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, upsetting 2014 US Open champion and world No. 13 Marin Čilić in the second round, before losing to French player Paul-Henri Mathieu. In the latter match he was warned for a code violation after calling the chair umpire a "fucking moron".^[11]

The next tournament Zverev played was in Rotterdam, category ATP 500. After beating Vasek Pospisil and world No. 15 Gilles Simon he lost to Gaël Monfils in the quarterfinal. In March, Zverev played for Germany in Davis Cup tie against Czech Republic. He lost in a five-setter to Tomáš Berdych. In the deciding match he lost in straight sets to Lukáš Rosol. In Indian Wells, Zverev defeated Ivan Dodig, Grigor Dimitrov and Gilles Simon, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, despite having a match point on his serve in the final set.^[12] At the Miami Open Zverev beat wild card Michael Mmoh in the first round and then lost to Steve Johnson.

Zverev next competed at the Monte Carlo Masters. In his first match he easily defeated Andrey Rublev 6-1 6-3. He then played lucky loser Marcel Granollers after David Ferrer withdrew. He lost 4-6 6-4 3-6. He then competed in the Barcelona Open. In his first match he played fellow countryman Jan-Lennard Struff. He defeated him 6-4 6-3. He then played fifteenth seed Thomaz Bellucci. He defeated him 6-3 6-7(3) 7-5. He then played Malek Jaziri and lost 6-7(5) 4-6. After Barcelona, Zverev entered the BMW Open in Munich. He defeated Victor Estrella Burgos and Lukas Rosol en route to the quarterfinals. There, he defeated David Goffin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. He lost in the semifinals to Dominic Thiem 6-4, 2-6, 3-6.

At the Rome Masters, Zverev defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the first round before losing to Roger Federer in the second. Zverev then competed in the 2016 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur as the 8th seed. He won his first match after Kyle Edmund had to retire after the second set. In the second round he won to Marcel Granollers, who had defeated him earlier in April. In the quarterfinals Zverev defeated 2nd seed Gilles Simon in a third-set tiebreaker after saving two match points to improve his record against him to 3-0. In the semifinals he beat 5th seed João Sousa to make his first ATP final. There, he lost to number 1 seed and defending champion Dominic Thiem.

At the French Open, Zverev defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Stephane Robert, both from France, in the first two rounds in four sets and played 13th seed Dominic Thiem for a 4th round spot, to whom he lost in four sets. Zverev then opened up his grass season in his home country at the Gerry Weber Open. In the first round he upset 7th seed Viktor Troicki in straight sets. He then defeated Benjamin Becker after going up a set and a break and then his opponent retired. He then defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets after saving multiple set points in the first set. In the semifinal he upset number 1 seed three time defending champion and 17 time grand slam champion Roger Federer in three sets to advance to his first 500 final and second final overall. In the final he lost to resurgent countryman Florian Mayer in three sets. His next tournament was the third grand slam of the year at Wimbledon. He defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets before defeating Mikhail Youzhny in five sets. He then lost in the third round to Tomáš Berdych in four sets.

He then competed at the Hamburg Open as the 4th seed. He lost in the first round to Íñigo Cervantes in straight sets. He then arrived at the Citi Open as the 7th seed. He defeated Taylor Fritz in straight sets before defeating Malek Jaziri in four sets. He then defeated 4th seed Benoît Paire in straight sets to advance to the semifinals where he lost to 2nd seed and eventual champion Gaël Monfils. Zverev then played at the Rogers Cup. He had another first round loss to Yen-hsun Lu in straight sets. Zverev then withdrew from the Rio Olympics. Zverev then had another first round loss at the Western & Southern Open to Yūichi Sugita in three sets. Zverev then competed at the final major of the year at the US Open as the 27th seed. He defeated Daniel Brands in four sets before losing to Dan Evans in four sets.

Zverev's next tournament was the St. Petersburg Open as the 5th seed. Zverev defeated Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and Mikhail Youzhny all in straight sets to advance to the semifinal where he defeated 3rd seed Tomáš Berdych also in straight sets to advance to his third final. In the final he defeated number 1 seed and US Open champion Stan Wawrinka in three sets coming back from 0-3 down in the third set to win his first ATP title. Zverev then withdrew from the Shenzhen Open. Zverev then arrived at the China Open. He came from a set down and defeated 4th seed Dominic Thiem. He then defeated Jack Sock in straight sets before losing to 5th seed David Ferrer despite winning the first set and being up a break in the third set. Zverev then played at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. He defeated John Isner in straight sets before coming from a set down to defeat 8th seed Marin Čilić. Zverev then lost to 9th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga despite winning the first set and being up a break in the third set.

Personal life

Zverev with his brother, Mischa (right), in 2013

Zverev comes from a Russian tennis family. His father, Alexander Sr., is a former professional tennis player who competed for the Soviet Union. In 1991, he and his wife Irina, a former tennis player as well, moved to Hamburg, Germany, where Alexander Jr. was born and raised.^[13] Zverev's older brother, Mischa, is also a professional tennis player.^[14] He speaks German, Russian and English.

Zverev's primary residence is Monte Carlo. He lives part-time in Hamburg and in Florida.^[1] His hobbies include playing golf and basketball. He has described himself as an avid fan of basketball, supporting the Miami Heat.^[1][15] When he was growing up, Roger Federer was his role model.^[1]

Zverev's close friends on the tour include Belinda Bencic, Kristina Mladenovic, Nick Kyrgios, Andrey Rublev, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Dominic Thiem.

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	21 May 2016	Open de Nice, France	Clay	Dominic Thiem	4–6, 6–3, 0–6
Runner-up	2.	19 June 2016	Halle Open, Germany	Grass	Florian Mayer	2–6, 7–5, 3–6
Winner	1.	25 September 2016	St Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Stan Wawrinka	6–2, 3–6, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (2 runners-up)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	3 May 2015	Bavarian Championships, Germany	Clay	Mischa Zverev	Alexander Peya Bruno Soares	6–4, 1–6, [5–10]
Runner-up	2.	7 February 2016	Open Sud de France, France	Hard (i)	Mischa Zverev	Mate Pavić Michael Venus	5–7, 6–7(4–7)

ATP Challengers and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-Up	000000002012-11-18-000018 November 2012	Bradenton, United States	Clay	Florian Reynet	0–6, 1–6
Winner	000000002014-07-05-00005 July 2014	Braunschweig, Germany	Clay	Paul-Henri Mathieu	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	000000002015-05-17-000017 May 2015	Heilbronn, Germany	Clay	Guido Pella	6–1, 7–6(9–7)

Jr finals

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2013	Jr French Open	Clay	Christian Garin	4–6, 1–6
Winner	2014	Jr Australian Open	Hard	Stefan Kozlov	6–3, 6–0

Performance timelines

Current till 2016 Stockholm Open

Singles

¹ Including 2013: 1 Tournament (0–1, Clay) / Year-end ranking: 807

Doubles

Record against top-10 players

Zverev's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface.

Opponent	Highest ranking	Matches	Won	Lost	Win %	Last match
Roger Federer	01 !1	2	1	1	50%	Won (7–6(7–4), 5–7, 6–3) at 2016 Halle SF
Andy Murray	01 !1	1	0	1	0%	Lost (1–6, 2–6, 3–6) at 2016 Australian Open 1R
Rafael Nadal	01 !1	1	0	1	0%	Lost (7–6(12–10), 0–6, 5–7) at 2016 Indian Wells 4R
Stan Wawrinka	03 !3	1	1	0	100%	Won (6–2, 3–6, 7–5) at 2016 St. Petersburg F
David Ferrer	03 !3	2	0	2	0%	Lost (7–6(7–4), 1–6, 5–7) at 2016 Beijing 3R
Tomáš Berdych	04 !4	5	1	4	20%	Won (6–4, 6–4) at 2016 St. Petersburg SF
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	05 !5	1	0	1	0%	Lost (7–6(7–4), 2–6, 5–7) at 2016 Shanghai 3R
Tommy Robredo	05 !5	2	0	2	0%	Lost (7–6(7–3), 4–6, 2–6) at 2015 Hamburg 1R
Gilles Simon	06 !6	3	3	0	100%	Won (6–3, 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–1)) at 2016 Nice QF
Marin Čilić	06 !6	3	2	1	66.67%	Won (3–6, 6–3, 6–2) at 2016 Shanghai 2R
Gaël Monfils	06 !6	3	0	3	0%	Lost (4–6, 0–6) at 2016 Washington SF
Dominic Thiem	07 !7	4	1	3	25%	Won (4–6, 6–1, 6–3) at 2016 China Open 1R
Fernando Verdasco	07 !7	1	0	1	0%	Lost (7–6(7–2), 3–6, 3–6) at 2015 Metz 1R
Mikhail Youzhny	08 !8	3	3	0	100%	Won (6–2, 6–2) at 2016 St. Petersburg QF
Grigor Dimitrov	08 !8	3	2	1	66.67%	Won (6–1, 6–4) at 2016 Rome 1R
Marcos Baghdatis	08 !8	2	1	1	50%	Won (7–6(11–9), 6–3) at 2016 Halle QF
Jürgen Melzer	08 !8	1	0	1	0%	Lost (1–6, 2–6) at 2014 Munich 1R
John Isner	9 !9	1	1	0	100%	Won (6–4, 6–2) at 2016 Shanghai 1R
Kevin Anderson	10 !10	1	1	0	100%	Won (2–6, 6–3, 6–4) at 2015 Washington 2R
Juan Mónaco	10 !10	1	1	0	100%	Won (6–4, 6–2) at 2015 Bastad 2R
Total		41	18	23	43.9%	* Statistics correct as of 21 November 2016.

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	AZ Rank
2016
1.	Roger Federer	3	Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany	Grass	SF	7–6(7–4), 5–7, 6–3	38
2.	Tomáš Berdych	9	St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	SF	6–4, 6–4	27
3.	Stan Wawrinka	3	St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	F	6–2, 3–6, 7–5	27
4.	Dominic Thiem	10	China Open, Beijing, China	Hard	1R	4–6, 6–1, 6–3	24

Davis Cup (0–2)

• indicates the result of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.

Rubber outcome	No.	Rubber	Match type (partner if any)	Opponent nation	Opponent player(s)	Score
2–3; 4–6 March 2016; TUI Arena, Hannover, Germany; World Group First Round; Hard(i) surface
Defeat	1.	II	Singles	Czech Republic	Tomáš Berdych	6–7(6–8), 6–1, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 4–6
Defeat	2.	V	Singles		Lukáš Rosol	2–6, 3–6, 1–6

Awards

• ITF Junior World Champion (2013)
• ATP Star of Tomorrow (2015)

References

External links

• Alexander Zverev at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Alexander Zverev at the International Tennis Federation
• Alexander Zverev at the Davis Cup

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Filip Peliwo	ITF Junior World Champion 2013	Succeeded by Andrey Rublev
Preceded by Borna Ćorić	ATP Star of Tomorrow 2015	Succeeded by Taylor Fritz

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten German male singles tennis players as of 28 November 2016
1. Alexander Zverev (24 ) 2. Philipp Kohlschreiber (32 ) 3. Florian Mayer (50 ) 4. Mischa Zverev (51 ) 5. Jan-Lennard Struff 63 )
6. Dustin Brown (72 2) 7. Tobias Kamke (118 ) 8. Benjamin Becker (119 ) 9. Daniel Brands (168 ) 10. Maximilian Marterer (177 )

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten German male doubles tennis players as of 28 November 2016
1. Philipp Petzschner (66 ) 2. Andre Begemann (106 ) 3. Gero Kretschmer (111 1) 4. Alexander Satschko (125 1) 5. Kevin Krawietz (135 )
6. Alexander Zverev (161 ) 7. Philipp Kohlschreiber (169 1) 8. Dustin Brown (175 22) 9. Andreas Mies (181 3) 10. Jan-Lennard Struff (182 1)