Alexander Zverev ‘has the chance to write tennis history’, says Boris Becker

Shahida Jacobs
Pictured: Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner
Alexander Zverev with Jannik Sinner inset

Boris Becker has some advice for Alexander Zverev ahead of his Australian Open final against Jannik Sinner.

Zverev advanced to his third Grand Slam final and first at Melbourne Park after 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic retired with a hamstring injury from their semi-final after the German won the opening set.

The world No 2 finished runner-up in his previous two Slam finals as he lost in five sets against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open and again went down in five against Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open last year.

He will come up against a formidable opponent in Sinner as the Italian is the defending Australian Open champion while he hasn’t lost at a hard-court major since Zverev beat him in the fourth round of the 2023 US Open.

The German leads the head-to-head 4-2 with Sinner winning their most recent match at the 2024 Cincinnati Open while Zverev has won both their matches at hard-court Slams as he was also victorious at Flushing Meadows in 2021.

Although Sinner is the clear favourite, Becker says Zverev has to up the mental stakes.

“Sascha has to approach the matter courageously and determinedly. He has to believe in himself that this time it is time to win,” the six-time Grand Slam winner told Eurosport Germany. “Tactically and athletically, his father and brother will prepare him well.”

The former world No 1 added: “He has been fighting for this greatest triumph for so long now. He was already in the final of the US Open in 2020, then in Paris last year.”

Sinner also won the 2024 US Open and 16 of his 18 titles have come on hard courts. The 23-year-old has also won 34 of his last 35 matches with his last defeat coming against Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the China Open last October.

Zverev does have some big titles to his name as he is the “ATP world champion and he won Olympic gold. He is missing that one big title, the Grand Slam victory – and I think he can do it”.

Becker, who won the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996, and Michael Stich are the only two German male Grand Slam winners with the latter winning Wimbledon in 1991.

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“Sascha has the chance to write tennis history. To go down in the history books as the third [German] player on the men’s side to win a Grand Slam. I think that would mean the world to him, but we’ll find out afterwards, if things go well,” Becker said.

He continued: “There is already a tennis boom in Germany again, but it would be many times bigger if we had another German Grand Slam winner.”