It’s quite the sound listening to a tennis ball being pulverised by Alexander Zverev as he serves. There’s the crack of racket on ball. The gasps from the crowd. And then the oohs after they glance at the speed gun.
- Alexander Zverev served dominantly, high first-serve percentage and aggressive groundstrokes making him extremely tough to beat.
- Taylor Fritz warned Alexander Zverev will be incredibly tough to beat thanks to consistent, powerful serving and growing confidence.
- Alexander Zverev served harder than anyone at Wimbledon and advanced past the last 16 there for the first time.
- Alexander Zverev says hostile crowds do not faze him, welcomes Centre Court energy despite most spectators favouring Arthur Fery.
- Taylor Fritz had beaten Zverev seven times previously but suffered knee tendinitis; he conceded Zverev would have been hard to beat even fully fit.
And Taylor Fritz, who had a better view of Zverov’s howitzers than anyone else at Wimbledon on Wednesday, reckons his serve will prove too hot to handle for Arthur Fery in Friday’s semi-final and possibly anyone else left in the men’s draw.
“Zverev is going to be incredibly tough to beat with how well he’s serving,” Fritz said after losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to the German in just under two hours. “That’s not something that I feel really changes from day to day with him. I feel like you can kind of expect that he’s going to show up and serve at least 70% first serves, bombs. He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
There were certainly plenty of bombs on Court No 1. Zverev’s first serve averaged 131.7mph and his second 115mph. The stats show that no one at Wimbledon this year has served harder. Incredibly despite his obvious power, the German had never got beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon until this year. But he is eagerly awaiting his clash with Fery – even though he knows 15,000 people on Centre Court will be willing him to lose.
“I’ve been on tour for long enough,” he said. “I feel like I’ve seen the most hostile crowds, I’ve seen tough crowds, I’ve seen unfair crowds as well. I feel like I should know how to handle it, I’ve learned how to handle it. I’m OK with it.
“I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere,. Of course, I know that 99% of the people will be cheering for him. But I also enjoy those kind of atmospheres. I enjoy it when the energy is very high. I always feel like the English crowd here, especially in London, they’re always quite fair. So I just look forward to a tough challenge in the semi-finals of a slam.”
“And while Zverev, the No 2 seed, will be the overwhelming favourite, he insists he won’t be taking Fery likely. “The first time I watched him play was actually in Australia,” he said. “He beat [Flavio] Cobolli in the first round. I was very impressed back then already. He has a very clean technique and very clean ground strokes. I thought he was a very good tennis player already back then.
“Of course, it’s maybe a surprise that he’s in the semi-finals. But I think he deserves it. The wins that he had, the way he fought back in a couple of those matches, is great to see. It’s a great story.
“Last year at this time I was practising on the hard courts already. It is a dream come true to finally play well at Wimbledon. I’ve waited a long time for it.”
What made Zverev’s convincing victory against Fritz all the more remarkable was that his American opponent had actually beaten him in their last seven matches. However, there was a caveat as the tendinitis in Fritz’s right knee flared up after three games and he needed treatment. Yet the American graciously admitted that he would have struggled to deal with Zverev in this form even if he were at his best.
“I felt like just because I was thinking about the knee, my focus was kind of all over the place,” he said. “But he was very aggressive with his forehand and his backhand as well. Very aggressive. Hit the ball great. He played really well and did a lot of things that are big improvements to his game.
“He’s changing direction a lot with the backhand. He’s serving such a high percentage, good spots. Really pulling the trigger with the forehand.”
Fery has been put on notice. And so, you have to believe, have Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.
