Alexander Zverev

2014: Semifinals at Hamburg

In the first six months, Zverev competed in 10 Challenger tournaments, only qualifying for five. He also entered five ATP 250 events, but was unable to qualify for any of the main draws (although he did receive a wildcard for the Bavarian International Tennis Championships).

Zverev won his first ATP Challenger Tour title at the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig, defeating three players ranked within the top 100. He defeated No. 87 Tobias Kamke in the first round,^[15] top seed and No. 56 Andrey Golubev in the semifinals, and No. 89 Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final. At 17 years and 2 months, Zverev became the youngest player to win a Challenger tournament since Bernard Tomic won the Maccabi Men's Challenger in 2009.^[16]

The following week he received a wildcard for the Stuttgart Open, and lost to the eventual runner up Lukáš Rosol in two tiebreaker sets.

Zverev won his first ATP tour-level match at the 2014 International German Open when he beat Robin Haase. He beat 5th seed Mikhail Youzhny in the second round for his first career win over a top 20 player. He defeated 11th seed Santiago Giraldo in the round of the last 16, and went on to beat Tobias Kamke in the quarterfinals. He then lost against David Ferrer in the semi-finals.

In Swiss Indoors Basel 2014 he lost in the first round to Grigor Dimitrov in three sets after winning the first set 6-2.

2015: Top-100

Zverev failed to qualify for the 2015 Australian Open.

In the 2015 Rotterdam Open he lost in the opening round to Roberto Bautista-Agut in straight sets.

In the 2015 Dubai Tennis Championships he lost in the first round to Marsel İlhan of Turkey.

At the 2015 Miami Open, Zverev defeated Thiemo de Bakker and João Souza in qualification, and won over Sam Groth in the first round to progress to the second round, where he was defeated by 26th seed Lukáš Rosol.

At Munich he defeated Benjamin Becker in the first round, and was defeated by eventual runner-up Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round.

Zverev reached the semifinals of the Open du Pays d'Aix ATP Challenger tournament in May, where he lost to the eventual runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The following week, Zverev won an ATP Challenger Tour title at Heilbronn in Germany. He defeated Guido Pella in the final.^[17] En route to his title win in Heilbronn, he defeated the defending champion and No. 90 Jan-Lennard Struff in the semifinals. As a result of this tournament win, Zverev moved into the Top 100 for the first time, rising to a career-high ATP ranking of No. 85.

Kicking off the Grass-court season in Stuttgart, Zverev won his opening match against Mate Pavic of Croatia in three sets after dropping the first set. In round two he lost to Victor Troicki of Serbia in three sets.

At the 2015 Gerry Weber Open, Zverev won his first round match against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets with the score of 6-4, 6-4. In second round, he lost to Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in three sets: 7-6, 3-6, 3-6.

Zverev at the 2015 US Open.

At the2015 Aegon Open Nottingham, he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin and Thomaz Bellucci to reach the round of 16 where he was defeated by Marcos Baghdatis. As a result of this, Zverev achieved a new career-high ATP ranking of No. 74.

At the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Zverev made it to the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, automatically qualifying as a top 100 ranked player. In the first round, Zverev was drawn against Teymuraz Gabashvili, whom he defeated in a thrilling five set match to record his first Grand Slam win, and book his place in the second round. He was then defeated by American wildcard Denis Kudla (who went on to reach the fourth round) in four sets.

Zverev next participated at the 2015 Swedish Open, where he defeated qualifier Julian Reister, and fourth seed Juan Mónaco to progress to the quarterfinals, where he defeated Thomaz Bellucci in three sets, despite being a set and a break down. In the semifinals he was defeated by second seed and eventual runner-up, Tommy Robredo. In his next tournament, the International German Open, Zverev was drawn against Tommy Robredo in a rematch of the Swedish Open semifinal. Despite winning the first set in a tiebreak, Zverev ultimately lost, marking his second consecutive defeat to the Spaniard.

Zverev next competed at the 2015 Citi Open, where he defeated qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, fifth seed Kevin Anderson and Alexandr Dolgopolov en route to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by third seed Marin Čilić in two close sets.

Zverev then qualified for the 2015 Cincinnati Masters 1000, where he lost to Borna Ćorić in the first round in a thrilling 3 set encounter.

He also qualified for the 2015 US Open and again lost a close five-set match to fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

He went on to finish the season in top 100 in the ATP rankings and won the ATP Newcommer of the Year award.

2016: Top-20 ranking and first ATP title

Zverev at the 2016 US Open

Zverev represented Germany at the 2016 Hopman Cup with Sabine Lisicki. He was beaten by Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray in singles matches, however recorded a win over French player Kenny de Schepper. In the first round of the Australian Open he lost to second seed Andy Murray in straight sets. He reached his first ATP semifinal of the year at the Open Sud de France in Montpelier, upsetting 2014 US Open champion and world No. 13 Marin Čilić in the second round, before losing to French player Paul-Henri Mathieu. In the latter match he was warned for a code violation after swearing at the chair umpire.^[18]

The next tournament Zverev played was in Rotterdam, category ATP 500. After beating Vasek Pospisil and world No. 15 Gilles Simon, he lost to Gaël Monfils in the quarterfinals. In March, Zverev played for Germany in the Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic. He lost in a five-setter to Tomáš Berdych. In the deciding match, he lost in straight sets to Lukáš Rosol. In Indian Wells, Zverev defeated Ivan Dodig, Grigor Dimitrov, and Gilles Simon, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, despite having a match point on his serve in the final set.^[19] At the Miami Open Zverev beat wild card Michael Mmoh in the first round, and then lost to Steve Johnson.

Zverev next competed at the Monte-Carlo Masters. In his first match, he easily defeated Andrey Rublev. He then played lucky loser Marcel Granollers after David Ferrer withdrew. He lost in three sets. He then competed in the Barcelona Open. He defeated Jan-Lennard Struff and Thomaz Bellucci, but lost to Malek Jaziri in straight sets. After Barcelona, Zverev entered the Bavarian Tennis Championships in Munich. He defeated Víctor Estrella Burgos and Lukáš Rosol (ending a three-match losing streak) en route to the quarterfinals. There, he defeated David Goffin in three sets, but lost in the semifinals to Dominic Thiem.

At the Italian Open, Zverev defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the first round, before losing to Roger Federer in the second. Zverev then competed in the 2016 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur as the eighth seed. He won his first match after Kyle Edmund had to retire after the second set. In the second round, he beat Marcel Granollers, who had defeated him earlier in April. In the quarterfinals, Zverev defeated second seed Gilles Simon in a third-set tiebreaker after saving two match points to improve his record against him to 3–0. In the semifinals, he beat fifth seed João Sousa to make his first ATP final. There, he lost to top seed and defending champion Dominic Thiem.

At the French Open, Zverev defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Stéphane Robert in the first two rounds in four sets and played 13th seed Dominic Thiem for a fourth round spot, to whom he lost in four sets. Zverev then opened his grass season in his home country at the Halle Open. In the first round, he upset seventh seed Viktor Troicki in straight sets. He then defeated Benjamin Becker, when his opponent retired. He then defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets after saving multiple set points in the first set. In the semifinal, he upset top seed, three-time defending champion, and then 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in three sets to advance to his first 500 final and second final overall. In the final, he lost to resurgent countryman Florian Mayer in three sets. His next tournament was the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon. He defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets, before defeating Mikhail Youzhny in five sets. He then lost in the third round to Tomáš Berdych in four sets.

He then competed at the German Open as the fourth seed. He lost in the first round to Íñigo Cervantes in straight sets. He then arrived at the Washington Open as the seventh seed. He defeated Taylor Fritz in straight sets, before defeating Malek Jaziri in four sets. He then defeated fourth seed Benoît Paire in straight sets to advance to the semifinals, where he lost to second seed and eventual champion Gaël Monfils. Zverev then played at the Canadian Open. He suffered another first-round loss to Yen-hsun Lu in straight sets. He withdrew from the Rio Olympics. Zverev then had another first-round loss at the Cincinnati Masters to Yūichi Sugita in three sets. Afterwards, Zverev competed at the final Grand Slam of the year at the US Open as the 27th seed. He defeated Daniel Brands in four sets, before losing to Dan Evans in four sets.

Zverev's next tournament was the St. Petersburg Open, where he was the fifth seed. Zverev defeated Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and Mikhail Youzhny, all in straight sets, to advance to the semifinal, where he defeated third seed Tomáš Berdych, also in straight sets, to advance to his third final. In the final, he defeated top seed and US Open champion Stan Wawrinka in three sets, coming back from 0–3 down in the third set to win his first ATP title. Zverev then withdrew from the Shenzhen Open. Zverev played the China Open, where he came from a set down to defeat fourth seed Dominic Thiem. He then defeated Jack Sock in straight sets, before losing to fifth seed David Ferrer, despite winning the first set and being up a break in the third set. Zverev then played at the Shanghai Masters. He defeated John Isner in straight sets, before coming from a set down to defeat eighth seed Marin Čilić. Zverev then lost to ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, despite winning the first set and being up a break in the third set.

In October 2016 he became the youngest player to enter the ATP top 20 since Novak Djokovic in 2006.

2017: Top 3 ranking and first two Masters titles

Zverev began the year by tying his best result at a Grand Slam at the time, falling in the third round of the Australian Open to eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal in a five-set match.^[20] Zverev had beaten Robin Haase and Frances Tiafoe in the first and second rounds, respectively, to reach the Spaniard. Zverev represented Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup, losing to Steve Darcis after a straight-sets victory over Arthur De Greef, his first win at the Davis Cup. In his second appearance at the Open Sud de France, Zverev won his first title of the year, beating Richard Gasquet in straight sets. Zverev and his brother also won the doubles title in Montpellier, beating Fabrice Martin and Daniel Nestor.

After two successive first-round losses at the Rotterdam Open and Open 13 to Dominic Thiem and Nicolas Mahut, respectively, Zverev played in Indian Wells, where he lost to Nick Kyrgios in the third round. Zverev made it to his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the Miami Open. After beating world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, Zverev again lost to Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals.

Zverev began the clay-court season at Monte Carlo, where he beat Andreas Seppi and Feliciano López to reach nine-time champion Nadal in the third round. Zverev lost to Nadal in straight sets, before heading to the Barcelona Open. He made it to the third round in Barcelona, where he lost to qualifier Chung Hyeon in straight sets. Zverev won his second title of the year and first title on home soil at the BMW Open. He beat Jérémy Chardy, fellow countryman Jan-Lennard Struff, world No. 18 Roberto Bautista Agut and finally Guido Pella to win the title. Zverev then competed unseeded at the Madrid Open. In the first round, he beat Fernando Verdasco in straight sets, setting up a second-round match against Marin Čilić. After beating Čilić in three close sets, and then prevailing over Tomáš Berdych, Zverev lost in the quarterfinals to Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.

At the Italian Open, Zverev continued his excellent form in beating fifth seed Milos Raonic in the quarterfinal, setting up his first Masters 1000 semifinal with John Isner. He beat Isner in three sets to move into his first Masters final against Novak Djokovic. In the final, Zverev defeated Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Masters title. With this win, he became the youngest player since Djokovic in 2007 to win a Masters 1000 title,^[21] and the first player born in the 1990s to do so.^[22] Despite his triumph in Rome, he went on to lose in the first round of the French Open to Fernando Verdasco in four sets.

Zverev reached the fourth round of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, his deepest Slam run until the 2018 French Open.

Zverev began his grass-court season at the Ricoh Open as second seed. He defeated two Frenchmen, Adrian Mannarino and Julien Benneteau, to reach the semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion and fourth seed Gilles Müller. In his next tournament, Zverev reached the final of the Halle Open for the second consecutive year, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut and former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet on the way. Despite beating him in the semifinals of the previous year's tournament, Zverev lost to Roger Federer in only 53 minutes. Zverev and his brother also reached the Halle Open doubles final, but lost to Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo. At Wimbledon, he achieved his best result at a Grand Slam event to date, falling in the fourth round to the previous years' runner up and 6th seed Milos Raonic in a five-set match. He defeated Evgeny Donskoy, Frances Tiafoe, and qualifier Sebastian Ofner in straight sets to reach Raonic.

Zverev returned to hard courts at the Washington Open, where he claimed his fifth ATP title. He defeated Jordan Thompson, Tennys Sandgren, Daniil Medvedev, and Kei Nishikori, losing only one set all week in the U.S. capital, before beating South African Kevin Anderson in straight sets to win his first ATP World Tour 500 event.^[23] He next played the Canadian Open, defeating his childhood idol and second seed Roger Federer in the final, clinching his second consecutive career Masters title. On the way to the final, Zverev saved three match points, including a 49-shot rally, to hold off Richard Gasquet in the second round. Zverev shot up to world No. 7 as a result of his success in Montreal, becoming the highest-ranked German male since Rainer Schüttler in April 2004.^[24] Despite his previous week's success, a fatigued Zverev lost in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters to Frances Tiafoe in three sets.^[25] Zverev returned to the US Open for the fourth time, this time as a favourite and as fourth seed. He defeated Barbadian qualifier Darian King in straight sets, before losing to fellow Next Generation player Borna Ćorić in four sets, in the second round. Despite this, following the tournament's conclusion Zverev rose to world No. 4, breaking into the top-5 for the first time in his career.

Zverev started off the Asian swing with a quarterfinal appearance at the Shenzhen Open, losing to Damir Džumhur in straight sets. At the China Open, he reached the semifinals, where he lost to Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. This was his third loss in four matches against rival Kyrgios. At the Shanghai Masters 1000, Zverev defeated Aljaž Bedene in the second round, before losing to Juan Martín del Potro in the third.

Zverev qualified as the top player for the 2017 Next Generation ATP Finals to be held in Milan, but opted out to concentrate on the World Tour Finals the following week, for which he also qualified.^[26] He lost in the round robin, winning his opening match against Marin Čilić but losing to Roger Federer and Jack Sock.

Zverev finished the 2017 season with a 55–22 win-loss record, five Tour titles, and $4,206,314 in prize money. Additionally, he finished as the year-end world No. 4 in the ATP Tour Rankings.

2018: Third Masters 1000 title & first Grand Slam quarterfinal

Zverev played for Gemany at the Hopman Cup alongside Angelique Kerber. In the group stage, he won only one singles match, but Zverev and Kerber won all their doubles rubbers. Germany lost in the final to Switzerland.

At the Australian Open, he made it to the third round, beating Thomas Fabbiano and countryman Peter Gojowczyk en route, before being beaten in five sets by world No. 59 Chung Hyeon.^[27] When asked in the post-match interview whether his problem in Grand Slam tournaments was physical or mental, he replied, "Definitely not physical" and admitted that he put too much pressure on himself to do well at the Slams.^[28]

In the Davis Cup tie against Australia, Zverev won both his singles rubbers, against Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios, and helped the German team to get into quarterfinals.^[29]

At the Rotterdam Open, Zverev was seeded third. However, he was upset in straight sets in the second round by Andreas Seppi, who went on to reach the semifinals.

He returned to action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where he reached the semifinals, defeating Mackenzie McDonald, Peter Gojowczyk, and Ryan Harrison all in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets in the semifinals.

He then had a disappointing loss at the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the year at the Indian Wells Masters in the second round to João Sousa, despite having break leads in the first and third sets.

Zverev next played at the Miami Masters. He won a close three-set match in the second round over Daniil Medvedev. He then had another three-set win over David Ferrer, coming from a set down to reach the fourth round. He then recorded straight-set wins over Nick Kyrgios, Borna Ćorić, and Pablo Carreño Busta to make his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. He faced John Isner in the final, which he lost in three sets. It was the first Masters 1000 final he failed to win.

At the beginning of the clay season, he reached the semifinals at Monte Carlo, where he lost to Kei Nishikori in three sets. In Munich, he successfully defended his title and won his seventh career title by defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final.

Seeded second at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, Zverev won his third Masters 1000 title in Madrid. He did not drop a set all tournament, nor did he have his serve broken at any point; he faced just one break point, which he saved. On his way to the title, he defeated Evgeny Donskoy, Leonardo Mayer, John Isner, Denis Shapovalov, and Dominic Thiem. By winning the title, he became only the fifth active player to have won at least three Masters titles, the others being the four members of the Big Four.^[30]

Zverev then returned to Rome as the defending champion. He reached the quarterfinals with straight-set wins over Matteo Berrettini and Kyle Edmund. He then beat David Goffin in three sets before reaching the final with a straight-sets win over Marin Čilić. He reached his fifth Masters 1000 final, only the seventh player in the Open Era to reach that milestone before turning 22. In the final he played the top seed Rafael Nadal. He came from a set down to force a third set and led 3-1 in the third set before a rain delay, after which Nadal won five straight games to end Zverev's 13-match winning streak.

Zverev then arrived at Roland Garros, first beating Ričardas Berankis in straight sets before achieving three consecutive five-set wins. He was down 2 sets to 1 in all three matches. First, facing Dušan Lajović, he was down a break in the second set before winning 7-5. In the third round against Damir Džumhur, he recovered after going down a break in the fourth set and saved a match point in the fifth set before coming back to win the match after nearly four hours. He achieved another fifth-set victory in the fourth round against Karen Khachanov, which guaranteed him his first quarterfinal at a Grand Slam. He was defeated by Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals in straight sets.

At Wimbledon, Zverev defeated James Duckworth in straight sets in the first round, then Taylor Fritz in five sets in the second round. He subsequently lost to Ernests Gulbis in five sets in the third round.

Going into the hard court season, Zverev successfully defended his title in Washington. He defeated Malek Jaziri in the second round; in the third, he met his older brother Mischa on court for the very first time and defeated him in straight sets. In his quarterfinal match against Kei Nishikori, Zverev dropped his only set of the tournament, managing to win in three. He swept past Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his fifth final of the year, where he defeated 19-year-old Alex de Minaur to claim his second consecutive Washington title. He failed to defend his title at the Canadian Open, defeating Bradley Klahn and Daniil Medvedev before losing in the quarterfinal to Stefanos Tsitsipas, despite having a set and 5-2 lead and two match points in the second set tie break.^[31][32] He then lost in the first round of Cincinnati to Robin Haase.

At the US Open, Zverev defeated Peter Polansky in the first round and Nicolas Mahut in the second round before losing in the third round to compatriot Phillip Kohlschreiber in four sets. Zverev yielded the final six games of the match to his opponent, much as he did in the third rounds of the Australian Open (lost to Hyeon Chung) and Wimbledon (lost to Ernests Gulbis) earlier in the year. This was Zverev's maiden third-round match in his four US Open tournaments.^[33]

Zverev played in the second edition of the Laver Cup from September 21-23, defeating John Isner on the second day. He then played the third match of the final day against Kevin Anderson, managing to win the match tiebreak despite trailing until the last moments. This victory secured the final three points required for Team Europe to win the tournament, 13-8.^[34] This victory also took Zverev's record in singles at the Laver Cup to 4-0, matching Roger Federer as the most successful Laver Cup singles player.

Zverev entered the China Open as the second seed, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in the round of 32. However, he was upset by Malek Jaziri, who defeated him in three sets. He then competed at the Shanghai Masters, seeded fourth. He defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili, Alex de Minaur, and 11th seed Kyle Edmund to reach the semifinals.

Singles Grand Slam tournament timeline