Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic warned of surprise US Open threat

Chinese tennis star Wu Yibing on his journey to ATP Tour

Boris Becker has warned the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic that Alexander Zverev could be the dark horse at this year’s US Open, which is set to get underway next week. Zverev has never won a Grand Slam but is making his way back to the upper echelons of tennis after a difficult year in 2022.

Zverev was forced to miss several tournaments after tearing his ankle ligaments while playing Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of last year’s French Open. He was due to make his comeback at the Davis Cup in September but suffered a new injury, which ruled him out for a lengthy period of time.

The German has since returned to peak fitness and reached the last four of the French Open in May for the second year in a row. He also won the Hamburg Open in July, with the achievement marking his 20th title at ATP level, before making it into the semi-finals in Cincinnati earlier this month.

Becker believes that Zverev is now ready to challenge Alcaraz and Djokovic for US Open glory, with his newfound confidence standing him in good stead to succeed at Flushing Meadows.

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“He has found his hard-court form, the big hope is, of course, if he can bring that to New York,” said Becker on Eurosport. “Now I think he has gained enough match practice over the year, he has gained enough self-confidence. In this respect, he is being taken very seriously again by the world’s top players and that is a good sign for him.”

Becker went on to highlight Zverev’s lack of injury problems this year as another factor that could make him a serious threat to other top players at the US Open.

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“He has now played the tournaments to the end without injury and has actually improved from month to month, and the knot burst in Paris,” added Becker. “He was okay on grass, I’ll call it that, and then he won Hamburg, and I think now he’s also back in his head, where he says ‘okay, I’ve done my homework, physically I’m fit’.”

Zverev fell outside the world’s top 25 as a result of his injuries last year but has since managed to get himself back up to 12th place in the ATP rankings. His impressive recent form has gone a long way to shaping his return to prominence over the last few months, which Becker feels is worthy of an even higher ranking spot.

“You’ve addressed his place as 12th in the world, but what’s decisive is that of this year’s players he’s already in the top eight, and for me that’s absolute world class,” he said.

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