Alexander Zverev labelled ‘a disappointment’ by tennis legend after missing ‘golden opportunity’
Tennis great Justine Henin has described Alexander Zverev’s quarter-final exit at the US Open as “a big disappointment” as she feels he had “a golden opportunity” to at least reach the final.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion declared “strong decisions” need to be taken to win a major and argued Zverev has played too many tournaments this year.
Zverev saw a chance to claim an elusive Grand Slam title slip away at the US Open as he fell to a 6-7(2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(3) defeat to Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
After Novak Djokovic was upset in the third round, Zverev was the clear favourite to reach the final in the bottom half of the draw.
The German, who returned to a career-high ranking of world No 2 this week, is considered by many to be one of the best players to not win a major.
The 27-year-old is a two-time Grand Slam runner-up and lost both finals in five sets: to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open and Carlos Alcaraz at this year’s French Open.
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Zverev led by two sets to love and served for the match against Thiem, while he saw a two sets to one lead disappear against Alcaraz.
He has won 22 ATP singles titles, including two ATP Finals crowns, an Olympic gold medal, and six Masters 1000 tournaments.
Speaking on Eurosport, former world No 1 Henin identified Zverev as the biggest disappointment of the US Open.
“Zverev is a disappointment. There were expectations. For me, it’s mainly the manner. I found him extremely defensive,” said the Belgian (translated from French).
“At one point, you say to yourself that to win a Grand Slam, and he came close to doing it at Roland Garros and at the same time so far, he has to dare even more.
“Against Fritz, I saw him fall back into his old ways. I think there are strong decisions to make to win a Grand Slam tournament, particularly on calendar issues. It was his 73rd match [of the season]!
“He can highlight his backhand that let him down, but for me it goes further than that. And at some point, you have to save yourself and find your peak form, Djokovic is the master in this area.
“There are a lot of things that Zverev has to work on, even if he has come back after his serious injury and he is very consistent — he will be second in the world.
“But at the same time, he had a golden opportunity here to at least reach the final and he couldn’t take it, so it’s a big disappointment a priori.”
The US Open was Zverev’s 18th event of the season and he holds a 56-17 record from the 73 matches he has played in 2024.
