“My goal is to compete with the big guys”: Alexander Zverev ready for Australian Open showdown vs Sinner

Alexander Zverev is aiming for his first Grand Slam title this Sunday at the Australian Open, where he will face defending champion Jannik Sinner. The World No. 2 has reached his third major final and hopes to finally claim the trophy after defeats in the finals of the 2020 US Open and 2024 French Open.

‘Sascha’ defeated Ugo Humbert (14th seed), Tommy Paul (12th seed), and Novak Djokovic (7-6, ret.) on his way to the final. He has dropped only two sets throughout the tournament, won all three tiebreaks he contested, and faced no significant scares against any of his opponents.

Zverev aims for first Grand Slam title 

The German is arguably one of the best players in history yet to win a Grand Slam, boasting an impressive resume with 7 Masters 1000 titles, two ATP Finals, an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020, and a 107-35 (75.4%) record in majors. "My goal is still to compete with the big guys and to compete for these kinds of tournaments and try to win them," Zverev said during his last press conference.

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"For that, I need to get better. I need to improve on the court. I need to improve physically. That's why I kind of said to the end-of-the-year tournaments, yes, I'm going to play them, but I'm going to play them also to improve and to try to become a better tennis player."

"I was still practising through all the tournaments. I was still doing quite a lot of physical training through the tournaments as well, for these kinds of moments, for Grand Slams, and hopefully to be able to lift these kinds of trophies."

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On Sunday, at 27 years and 281 days old, Zverev could become the oldest player to win his first Grand Slam title since Stan Wawrinka at the 2014 Australian Open. For now, the head-to-head against Sinner favours Zverev 4-2, though their last meeting at the 2024 Cincinnati Open ended in a narrow victory for the Italian, who edged the match in a third-set tiebreak, 7-6(9), 5-7, 7-6(4).

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