Tennis world english n 45 Tennis World english 45 | Page 30

Mischa Zverev And
The Return Of Serve
And Volley In that match against Murray, Zverev
approached the net an astonishing 118
times, winning 55% of the points (65/118).
His win percentage from the baseline was
considerably lower at 48%, which goes to
show which part of the court he is most
comfortable with.
"Ah, how I miss the days of serve and
volley! Today itʼs all about long rallies.” In his five matches in Australia, he played
a total of 459 points from the baseline,
winning 289, while he played just 348
from the baseline, of which he won 169.
Alex
Bisi
This is a complaint that many of us have
heard one too many times. Nostalgics
long for the simpler days when most
points were decided in a handful of shots
at the most. When tennis was more about
touch than power. Well, these romantics
now have a new hero in the form of
Mischa Zverev.
Of course, now that the tennis season
heads to the European clay courts, his
style of play will not be as effective as it
has been. That being said, itʼs worth
noting just how effective he has been this
year.
It all started with the Australian Open,
where Zverev shocked the tennis world by
ousting 2016 finalist and world number
one Andy Murray.
This good start to the year earned him his
best ever ranking on 27 February, when
he rose to 30th in the world for the first
time.
His exemplary net game has, naturally,
carried on well into his doubles career,
where he has won three titles at Tour
level. One of these came with his brother
Alex in Montpellier, while the others came
in Tokyo and Halle in 2008 alongside
Mikhail Youznhy.
Now the German is biding his time, waiting
for the inviting grass of the British
summer, where he has every chance to do
a tremendous amount of damage to
whoever he comes across.