Alexander Zverev: Making his case for ATP Player of the Year

While he doesn’t have the elusive Grand Slam title this year, Alexander Zverev has certainly put in his name for ATP Player of the Year as his stellar 2020 campaign continues.

Alexander Zverev has looked like a new man in 2020, both before and after the COVID-19 shutdown. This fact was put on display yet again as he rolled by French Open champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 7-5 to (once again) deny the Spaniard of a shot at the Paris Masters title, one of the events he hasn’t captured in his illustrious career.

Granted, this shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 23-year-old was able to conquer the recent major champion. Career accolades aside, if we’re looking specifically at how they’ve both done in 2020, they’ve performed at similar levels, with Nadal being victorious in a Grand Slam event being the only major difference. Let’s take a look.

After losing his first three matches of the year in 2020 at the ATP, Zverev exploded into the Australian Open semifinals with wins over Andrey Rublev and Stan Wawrinka on his way there (before losing to Dominic Thiem in four sets).

The restart wasn’t kind with him to begin with but ever since his opening-round loss to Andy Murray in “Cincinnati”, he’s made an extremely sound argument as the best men’s tennis player in the world. Yes, I said it. Best in the world. Now, this isn’t to say he holds that title. I think he sits securely in the top four behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Dominic Thiem but has the stats to prove why he might be deserving of a higher ranking. Let’s look, shall we?

More from ATP

Dating back to the beginning of his run in New York, Zverev has played in 23 matches (up until his most recent win earlier today against Nadal in Paris). He’s lost just two of them. While both of those did come in major events, I give him the benefit of the doubt in both scenarios.

In New York, he took Dominic Thiem to an astounding, albeit sloppy, five-setter during the US Open Final before bowing out 7-6(6) in the fifth. He did hold a two-set to love advantage in this match but ultimately held his own in his first career appearance in a Grand Slam final (compared to the fourth for Thiem). In Paris for the French Open, this was easily Zverev’s worst match since the August restart outside of the Murray loss to open the campaign, but it was clear that he wasn’t 100% healthy during the match against Jannik Sinner. Keep in mind, Sinner could’ve beaten almost anyone those two weeks.

Since then, however, Zverev hasn’t lost. He’s 12-0 with wins over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Diego Schwartzman, Stan Wawrinka, and now Rafael Nadal all in straight sets. He’s sprinting into the Paris Masters in hopes to capture his third title in just many weeks. His chances are high, as he’ll face Daniil Medvedev, who’s had a solid week but nothing outside of that. At 5-1 all-time against the World No. 5 and heading into the match as the world’s hottest player,

The case for Zverev as ATP Player of the Year most likely won’t come to fruition, but as the owner of a 27-8 record (and 21-3 post-restart) and appearances in the Australian Open semis and US Open Final, it’s hard to count him out. A title in Paris (and London at the ATP Finals while we’re at it) would certainly aid his case and push him further up in contention.

Next. 2020 Paris Masters: Who will be this year’s champion?. dark

Djokovic, Thiem, and Nadal all captured major championship titles this year but there’s no denying Zverev’s consistency to win matches, especially since August. He’s taken advantage of an upside-down season and controlled it as his own. Does he have the Grand Slam accolades? Close but no cigar. Does he have Rublev’s unrivaled 5 titles this season? No, but what Zverev has done throughout the entire season is put himself in contention for almost every tournament he’s entered. That’s got to be worth something.

Home/ATP