'You still have to make an effort' - Boris Becker on 'very disappointing' Alexander Zverev loss at Australian Open
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Updated 24/01/2022 at 06:22 GMT
"Very disappointing," Boris Becker has given Eurosport Germany his reaction after Alexander Zverev suffered a fourth-round shock defeat to Denis Shapovalov. "Sascha never found his game, he didn't develop dynamism or aggression. You can lose and play badly, but you still have to make an effort and leave your soul on the pitch. We missed that today."
One of Zverev’s ‘worst performances’ – Becker after Shapovalov loss
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev suffered a crushing straight-sets loss to Denis Shapovalov in their fourth-round clash at the Australian Open, and Boris Becker has given Eurosport his reaction.
Shapovalov caused the biggest upset on the men's side of the singles draw so far, knocking out the No. 3 seed, 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3, on Margaret Court Arena to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time.
Speaking to Eurosport Germany, Becker summarised why he felt his compatriot fell to the stunning straight-sets defeat to the big-serving Canadian.
"Very disappointing," Becker said after the fourth-round shock. "Sascha never found his game, he didn't develop dynamism or aggression.
"Right from the start, you had the feeling that Shapovalov was always a step ahead. The Canadian was livelier. I haven't seen Zverev that passive for a very long time.
"You can lose and play badly, but you still have to make an effort and leave your soul on the pitch. We missed that today.
"Sascha's dream of being number one in the world after the Australian Open now is over. He has to think about what happened there.
"He was brimming with confidence before but something has happened from Australia these past few weeks."
"His big strength is his serve, but today it was just three aces with eight double faults. He waited too long on the baseline for that and only played the ball back – hoping that the opponent would make a mistake. But Shapovalov is too good for that.
"He never really put pressure on Shapovalov and pushed. The round of 16 is not enough for a top player like Zverev."
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'Racquet abuse warning' - Zverev furiously destroys racquet after double-faults
Fellow Eurosport expert Mats Wilander also gave his reaction and made it clear that he believes a new dynamic will play out following the recent years of having an established 'Big Three' winning everything in men's tennis.
"There is not going to be a big four in this generation, there are going to be seven, eight, nine, 10 guys that are going to win one of them," Wilander said in the Cube.
"Sascha Zverev is one of them, Felix-Auger Aliassime, Matteo Berrettini. I don’t see the qualities in Zverev that I see in Novak Djokovic or Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer, yet.
"Zverev is not going to be dominating like them because emotionally today I don’t think he was a top player, to be honest."
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Highlights: Shapovalov stuns Zverev in big upset in straight sets
No. 14 seed Shapovalov, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, will now face 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in the last eight.
"It is always nice to finish in three but unfortunately that is not always the case," Shapovalov said after the match.
"It's probably what I least expected, to finish in three, so I'm very happy with my performance and where my game is at.
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'I love this court' - Shapovalov delighted with shock win over Zverev
"Off the ground I was playing really well, feeling my shots off both wings. I played pretty smart today, and I felt things were going my way early on, plus a little bit of momentum in the second set. I did well to come back and I kind of rolled with it afterwards.
On playing Nadal next, he said: "It's always an honour to go up against a guy like Rafa. We played not too long ago in an exhibition in completely different conditions, a completely different match, but it is always fun and will always be a battle against him.
"It's going to be a tough one and I'm definitely going to enjoy it."
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