World No. 1 Roger Federer has warned rising German star Alexander Zverev against putting too much pressure on himself.
Zverev, 20, is considered to be the next big thing in tennis and Federer believes he certainly possesses the skill set, talent, and the weapons to win a Grand Slam in the near future.
Federer claimed that because Zverev was trying too hard to succeed at the Majors, it was proving to be his undoing. In fact, he was under pressure due to his early success at the Masters 1000 events and as he was expecting a bit too much from himself, he was failing to accomplish the desired results at the Slams.
The former World No. 3 put up a lackluster performance against Hyeon Chung of South Korea, losing in the third round of the Australian Open. It wasn’t the first time Zverev went out early in a Slam. He suffered shock defeats in the first round of the French Open, fourth round at Wimbledon and round 2 of the US Open in 2017.
Federer told German publication Noz: “I have the feeling that he may have set too high goals, which is good and important. Because he won the tournaments in Rome and Montréal, he may also think that he should now win a Grand Slam. This is a logical process in the mind. But if you’re thinking of the semi-finals or finals but you’re still in the second round at break and at breakpoint, then it’s hard to play normally.”
“He should not panic or put too much pressure on himself. I also had to understand that I had to concentrate point by point, game by game, game by game and game by game. He will find out. He is too good a player for that. If he continues to train well, he will get his chances to win grand slams.”
