Alexander Zverev enters his penultimate tournament of the season in Paris high in confidence and with good reason.
The world No.4 has enjoyed a breakthrough 2017. He already has five titles to his name, including a duo of Masters 1000 titles. On the tour this season, only Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have won more trophies than him. He has scored six wins over top-10 players, of which four have previously won a grand slam title (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka).
Zverev is targeting his third Masters title in Paris this week. He will be playing at the AccorHotels Arena for the first time in his career as the third highest ranked player in the draw. Bidding to become the first German winner of the tournament since Boris Becker in 1992.
“I think the indoor surface suits me well so my game. So hopefully I can get back to where I was earlier season. Playing great tennis again.” Zverev told atpworldtour.com. “I felt great in practice, so hopefully I can do the same that I did in practice in the tournament as well.”
Leading into the tournament, the 20-year-old will be looking to make up for his recent losses on the tour. At the Vienna Open, where he was the top seed, Zverev lost in the quarter-finals to Viktor Troicki. Prior to that he crashed out in the third round of the Shanghai Masters. Despite the setbacks, it seems to have no impact of Zverev’s confidence of winning.
“I think I can play or win against anyone.” He stated. “So that’s what it takes to win the big tournament for me. It’s important to have that mentality and obviously I think I can do well in every tournament that I play.”
With Rafael Nadal on the verge of clinching the year-end No.1 spot and a group of players battling to qualifying for the season ending ATP Finals, Zverev is under no illusion of the task he faces this week. In his section of the draw, he could play Juan Martin del Potro in the third round followed potentially by either Grigor Dimitrov or John Isner.
“There’s a lot of players that are playing great tennis right now. I think a lot of players can do a lot of damage here, so we’ll see who will win this title at the end.” The world No.4 concluded.
Zverev will start his Paris campaign on Wednesday against Robin Haase.
