Zverev has cracked Wimbledon
There are tournaments that just will not budge. Surfaces that seem to have it in for certain players, as if the grass in England had decided once and for all that Alexander Zverev was not getting anywhere near the last four. Three quarter-final runs in his career, no semi-final, even though the same man had at least reached a final at each of the other three Grand Slams. It was a glaring oddity, almost awkward for a player of his standing.
On Wednesday, Zverev put it right in one hit. Fritz was swept aside, the numbers fixed, the record rewritten. For the first time in his career, the German is into the Wimbledon semi-finals.
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Roland Garros as the spark
To understand what has changed over the past few weeks, you have to go back to Paris. Three Grand Slam finals lost, the same empty feeling each time, and then finally Roland Garros 2025 landing his way. Zverev had waited so long for that title that it changed something deep in the way he now approaches the big occasions.
“Winning Roland Garros helps me, that is for sure,” he admitted after beating Fritz. Hardly a shock. Once that first major is out of the way, the arm loosens up. The choices get cleaner, the intent calmer. Zverev is no longer playing with the fear that it might never happen. He is playing like somebody who knows it already has.
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Fritz shut down, the streak buried
The win over Taylor Fritz carried extra weight. The American had won seven straight meetings between the pair. Seven. That is a ridiculous number when you line up what both men have achieved, and it had to be sitting somewhere in the back of Zverev’s mind.
Fritz did admit he had been bothered by a knee problem from early on, and that matters when you read the scoreline. But Zverev did not sit around waiting for his opponent to collapse. He got after the match from the start, set the pace, and gave Fritz nothing to work with. The streak ends there. No fuss, no argument.
What stands out most is the technical control he has shown on a surface that had given him headaches for years. “I have changed my game a little on grass and it is working well this year. My return position and my position generally on court have changed. I had tried it in previous years, but I did not feel comfortable doing it. This year, the feeling is different.” Different, and clearly better.
Fery next, with the final in sight
Next up is Arthur Fery. The Brit has been one of the stories of the tournament, carried along by a raucous London crowd and fuelled by a run of comeback wins from difficult positions. Zverev did not come into this one blind. He had watched Fery play in Melbourne against Cobolli and came away impressed. “He has very clean technique, very clean strokes. It might be a surprise to see him in the semi-finals, but I think he deserves it. It is a great story.”
A great story he plans to end on Friday, with one very clear target in mind: a Wimbledon final, the only Grand Slam final still missing from his record. If he gets there, Zverev will join the very small group of players to reach the final of all four majors. And the double, Roland Garros plus Wimbledon in the same season, would suddenly be right there in front of him.
The bogeyman is gone. The awkward surface has been tamed. Zverev has run out of excuses not to go all the way.
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