Alexander Zverev’s serve is at once among the most potent and also the most perplexing weapons in tennis. When it is working as it should, which is about 98% of the time, the German feels all but unbreakable. And in whatever time is left, it can all fall apart.
Zverev, who was the No 3 seed last year, managed to succumb to Arthur Rinderknech in the first round, in a match that stretched to two days, despite hitting 76% of his first serves – the best strike-rate in the tournament – and winning all but three of 28 service games. “Dominant but defeated,” as Wimbledon’s statbot put it.
Buoyed, perhaps, by his recent maiden grand slam success in Paris – at the 41st attempt – Zverev avoided a similar fate at the hands of Alexander Blockx, the 21-year-old rising star from Belgium, racing through a fourth-set tie break to love for a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0) win as Blockx’s spirited resistance in the face of a barrage of big serves finally wilted. But it was not without a couple of moments when the No 2 seed’s aim went absent without leave, just when he needed it most.
In the opening set, Zverev sent down a relentless rat-a-tat of first serves at 130mph-plus, finding the service court – and frequently the line – with 21 from 26, and winning four of five second-serve points for good measure. His opponent kept pace until the ninth game but finally yielded in miserable fashion, surrendering a tentative and error-strewn service game to love, allowing Zverev to serve it out with ease.
For much – in fact, almost all – of the second set, the script remained the same, and Zverev’s first-serve percentage even cranked up a notch, to 82%, although Blockx managed to avoid his earlier ninth-game wobble and it went to a tie-break without a single break point on either side.
And now, with the players having traded mini-breaks and a set point apiece to reach 9-8, the Zverev serve suddenly came apart. Blockx’s second set point was the worst possible time for the German to produce his first double-fault of the match, and his head was still scrambled at the start of the third as his next five serves also went either long, wide or into the net.
Blockx, who made rapid progress during the clay court season to reach the world’s top 40 for the first time, had scarcely seen a second serve to attack to this point, never mind three break points all at once. But his opponent managed to reboot himself in the nick of time, reeled off five points in a succession and edged ahead once more by taking the third-set tie-break to five.
After an early break in the fourth set, Zverev looked poised for an easy run to victory. Again, though, the gremlins appeared to play havoc with his service action, and Blockx was handed an almost completely unearned break-back as the German sent down three double-faults in the space of four points.
The French Open champion has never been past the fourth round here and will need to cut out the wobbles if he is to improve on that this year, starting with his second-round match against Valentin Royer.
“When I saw the draw, I thought, here we go again, same thing as last year,” Zverev said. “The way he’s come up the rankings has been incredible to see. It’s not difficult [to follow up on the win in Paris] but I just struggle on this beautiful court. I love to play here, but at times I still struggle. I’m getting older and hopefully I’m getting better as well, and I hope to have my best result at Wimbledon so far this year.”
Zverev recently revealed that he has an allergy to grass, but did not use that as an excuse for his relative struggles in SW19. “There are a lot of pills and a lot of sneezing and a lot of a stuffed nose,” he said. “Unfortunately for me, but it’s just how it is, I can’t do anything about it and I’m dealing with it. I do feel fine, I’m not sick or anything.
“Roland Garros really helps, but I do believe that I can play well on this surface if I can get through a couple of matches.”
