‘Alexander Zverev will not win the Australian Open nor any Grand Slam’, predicts former world No 10
Former world No 10 Arnaud Clement has cast doubt over Alexander Zverev’s chances of winning the 2025 Australian Open — or any other Grand Slam title.
The four-time ATP titlist argued Zverev has failed to resolve problems in his game “that we’ve known about for eight years now.”
Zverev is chasing a maiden major title at the ongoing Australian Open, where he is the No 2 seed. He earned convincing straight-set wins over Lucas Pouille and Pedro Martinez to progress to the third round, where he will face world No 92 Jacob Fearnley.
The German is widely considered to be one of the best male players in tennis history to not win a Grand Slam title.
The 27-year-old is a two-time major runner-up, having lost both of his finals in five sets: to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open and Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open.
Zverev has won 23 ATP singles titles, a tally that includes two ATP Finals crowns, seven Masters 1000 titles and an Olympic gold medal.
The world No 2 holds the highest Grand Slam singles match win rate (74.6%, 103-35) of any male player without a major title in the Open Era.
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Clement, who was beaten by Andre Agassi in the 2001 Australian Open final, gave his verdict on both Zverev and world No 4 Taylor Fritz.
“Zverev will not win the Australian Open, nor a Grand Slam tournament, but I could be wrong,” the Frenchman told Eurosport France.
“Even though I think he is below Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic, I think Taylor [Fritz] is progressing tennis-wise and mentally, which is not really the case with Zverev. The German still hasn’t resolved his problems that we’ve known about for eight years now.”
Zverev is projected to face third seed and four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz, or seventh seed and 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, in the semi-finals in Melbourne.
The German is likely to face world No 1 and reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner if he progresses to the championship match.
Zverev’s best result at the Australian Open is reaching the last four, a feat he first achieved in 2020, when he was beaten in four sets by Thiem.
Last year, he suffered a brutal five-set semi-final loss to rival Daniil Medvedev at Melbourne Park after leading by two sets to love.
