Decoding the stats of Alexander Zverev on hard courts
World number three Alexander Zverev reached the fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open on Friday. He defeated Moldovan Radu Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 after an hour and 57 minutes. Zverev has reached the last 16 at the Australian Open for the fourth consecutive year. He qualified for the semis at the 2021 US Open too. Here, we decode hard-court record of Zverev.
Why does it matter?
Zverev was on a roll in 2021. He finished with six titles, the most in the season. The German was one of the two players (the other being Daniil Medvedev) to have won over 60 matches in 2021 (61-16). Notably, Zverev won five of his six titles in 2021 on hard courts. He is vying for his maiden Grand Slam title.
Zverev is 193-88 on hard courts
Zverev is 193-88 on hard courts. Notably, 13 of his titles have come on this surface (2016: St Petersburg. 2017: Montpellier, Washington, Canada Masters. 2018: Washington, ATP Finals. 2020: Cologne 1, Cologne 2. 2021: ATP Finals, Vienna, Cincinnati Masters, Tokyo Olympics, Madrid Masters, Acapulco.
Zverev won his maiden ATP title on hard court
Zverev won his maiden ATP title on hard court. He defeated third seed Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in the final to win the St Petersburg Open in 2016. Zverev overcame ninth seed Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals. The former beat Karen Khachanov, Medvedev, and Mikhail Youzhny en route to the semi-final. Zverev lost only one set in the entire tournament.
Zverev's hard-court record in 2021: 43-10
Zverev finished 2021 with second-most match-wins (43-10) on hard courts. He ended behind Medvedev, who registered a win-loss record of 54-9 on this surface. Zverev remained the only player to have won five titles and more than 40 matches on hard courts in 2021.
Zverev was crowned champion of ATP Finals
Zverev was crowned champion of the 2021 ATP Finals, a prestigious year-end championship played on hard court. The German defeated Medvedev 6-4, 6-4 to win his second ATP Finals title. Zverev became the fourth player to win the semi-final (Novak Djokovic) and final (Medvedev) against the Top 2 players in this tournament. Zverev also ended Medvedev's winning streak in the ATP Finals.
Zverev bagged gold medal at Tokyo Games
Zverev won his biggest title by bagging the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He overcame Russia's Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-1 in the men's singles final. Zverev had earlier stunned Djokovic in the semi-final, denying the world number one a historic Golden Slam. Zverev became only the second German player to win Olympic singles gold after Steffi Graf.
