How Rising Star Alexander Zverev Can Grow from Painful Defeat to Rafael Nadal

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 18, 2016

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It was a delicious fourth-round duel, and 18-year-old wunderkind Alexander Zverev had the great Rafael Nadal on the ropes—match point in motion and one last ball to put away.

The Spaniard desperately floated his backhand retrieval into the center of the court like a wounded bird. Zverev had dutifully followed up his potential winner by covering the area for a match-winning forehand volley. But the ball, like its deliverer, had a stubborn streak as it kept diving, with the Spaniard’s commanding spin buzzing angrily into Zverev’s strings. There it landed, sticking on his racket head just long enough before diving off the reply and sinking into the net with a sickening thud.

“I missed probably the easiest shot I had the whole match,” Zverev summarized in ATP World Tour.



Suddenly, Zverev was aware of the moment that hovered like a rain cloud in the desert air. He should have finished off "the old toro," and he knew it. Nadal was still alive, pawing and daring Zverev to put him away.

From there, it was all a blur as Zverev staggered in the ring like a boxer who had lost his legs. His mechanics disappeared. He dropped 14 of the next 15 points, and suddenly he was walking over to the net to shake Nadal’s hand in stunned defeat.

No doubt about it, Zverev tightened up, something that has happened to countless players over the years when faced with all-important points. It was heartbreaking, cruel and unsettling. Yet it was there for the taking, and Germany’s future star learned a little more about climbing into the backyard of Tennis Club Elite.

Should he dwell on the moment? In the short term, tennis players would love to forget and move on, and the great ones do, but like sage elephants, they will remember and plot for the next time. Champions are willing to look failure in the eye and beat him back the next time.

This is one les...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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