Boris Becker insists he wishes nothing but the best to Alexander Zverev, but also believes that the 28-year-old's on-court struggles are directly influenced by his mental state.
After Zverev hit a rough patch following his Australian Open final loss to Jannik Sinner and also lost to Novak Djokovic in the French Open quarterfinal, Becker suggested that the time was running out for the world No. 3 and that he needed to ditch his father and brother from his team and hire different voices. Needless to say, that didn't sit well with the three-time Grand Slam finalist.
Since then, Becker has made some opinions that also didn't impress Zverev.
Following a Wimbledon first-round exit, the top-ranked German male tennis player admitted that he was in a dark place mentally and that it was tough for him to find any enjoy.
While Zverev managed to improve his form and results after opening up about his mental health issues, he still didn't win any titles and had some losses in matches that he could have or should have won. The German's most recent disappointment came at the ATP Finals, where he won his opening match (b. Ben Shelton) before losing the next two matches (d. by Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime), and didn't make it past the group stage.
Becker: Zverev's loss to Auger-Aliassime was mental
“I think he played well in Vienna in the final against Sinner, losing very narrowly in three sets. In Paris [Masters], he was in the semi-finals, where he was physically injured. And here [in Turin] too, against Shelton, he played excellently. But I was talking about mental problems," the German tennis icon said on the Becker Petkovic podcast.
“At Wimbledon, at the press conference after his first-round exit, he spoke of a mental hole. And I think he had that [against Auger-Aliassime] too. He missed balls that he normally hits with his eyes closed in training. And that has nothing to do with the sport, but with his psyche, with his mindset.”
Zverev's 2025 season is still not over as he is representing Germany at this week's Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna.
