Tennis legend Boris Becker has questioned the approach Alexander Zverev takes to his tournament scheduling and offered some advice to his fellow German.
The six-time Major champion warned Zverev he “can’t play 25 or 26 tournaments a year” and suggested he should “filter the priorities” to best prepare for Grand Slams.
Zverev has featured very frequently this season and is playing his 25th event of 2023 at this week’s Vienna Open. As well as his tournament appearances, the 2020 US Open finalist also competed for Germany in Davis Cup qualifying in February.
The world No 10 is set to play at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris next week, before likely concluding his season at the ATP Finals in Turin next month. Zverev sits seventh in the Race to Turin and is highly likely to qualify given his healthy lead over the players below him.
The 26-year-old made his return to action at the United Cup in January this year, having suffered a brutal ankle injury that required surgery in the second set of his 2022 French Open semi-final with Rafael Nadal.
Speaking on an episode of Eurosport Germany’s Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast, Becker discussed the challenge of the conclusion to the gruelling ATP calendar and advised Zverev to play less events throughout the season.
“After a long season, it’s not easy psychologically to play for several weeks in Asia, there are different customs, it’s a different culture. After the third or fourth week – I’ve experienced this too – you can start to feel homesick. You then want to go back to Europe and sleep in your own bed again,” said the former world No 1.
“My advice would be to filter the priorities of the year and say to yourself, for example: ‘I’m going to play at Wimbledon: what should I do to best prepare for it, which grass tournaments should I play?’ The same goes for tournaments on clay for Roland Garros or on hard court for the US Open.
“Then, in the fall, you will be able to see what you need to qualify for the Masters. You can’t play 25 or 26 tournaments a year. Sascha is also getting a little older.
“It’s not necessarily a physical thing, but rather a mental one. You can’t be fresh every week. You have to find your priorities and take breaks. Breaks are also part of training. Only in a healthy body with a healthy mind and a healthy soul can you play your best tennis.”
Zverev cruised past home favourite Sebastian Ofner 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round of the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna on Monday. He faces world No 18 Cameron Norrie in the second round in Austria on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old’s victory over Ofner ended a three-match losing streak, after he fell in the opening round at his previous two events in Tokyo and Shanghai to Jordan Thompson and Roman Safiullin respectively.
The world No 10 was beaten in the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing by Daniil Medvedev at the start of the month, having downed Safiullin to win the ATP 250 tournament in Chengdu in September to kick off his Asian swing.
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