After winning two Grand Slams, accumulating 25 match wins in majors, and making it to three Grand Slam finals this season, critics have still found a way to undermine Alexander Zverev’s achievements. Boris Becker was not willing to let the criticism aimed at Zverev’s US Open title go unanswered. 

Speaking on the Becker Petkovic podcast, the six-time Grand Slam champion defended against the notion that the absence of his rivals in New York somehow diminished his victory. 

“The critics came out saying, ‘He only won because Alcaraz and Sinner didn’t play, or Sinner was injured,’ or ‘He had an easy draw,'” Becker said. “It’s not his fault if Sinner gets injured beforehand, or if Alcaraz was out for four months and loses in the quarters against Shelton.” 

“It’s not his fault if all the favorites lose early. You can only beat the opponent you have in front of you on the court. It seems like an absolute disgrace and an incredible lack of respect toward his performance to me,” Becker added. 

The criticism stems from the fact that Zverev has only defeated two top-10 players in both of those title runs. At Roland Garros, Alcaraz missed the tournament due to a wrist injury, and Jannik Sinner fell in the second round to Juan Manuel Cerundolo, giving the German a clear path to the title. He converted that opportunity to claim his first-ever Grand Slam, defeating Flavio Cobolli in the final, who was the only top-10 player he defeated in that tournament. 

Similarly, at the US Open, the world No.1 missed the tournament due to a knee injury, and Alcaraz was downed by Ben Shelton in the quarterfinal. Once again, this gave Zverev a clear path to the title, and he did not let it go this time either, defeating Shelton in four sets, again the only top-10 player he defeated in the tournament. 

Both absences were beyond Zverev’s control, and Becker’s point was simple: results are determined by the people on the court, not who might have been on the court in a different reality.

Even Zverev himself had addressed the criticism directly in his own press conference, giving a carefully qualified answer when asked if he considers himself the best player in the world right now. 

“With Jannik Sinner being injured, Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, this moment, probably yes,” he said. “Both of them healthy, both of them at the top of their game? Maybe not.”

A near-perfect Grand Slam season for Alexander Zverev

The only Grand Slam final Zverev missed out on this year came at the Australian Open, and even there he came agonizingly close. He held a match point of sorts, serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set against Alcaraz in the semifinal, only for the Spaniard to break back and complete one of the most dramatic comebacks of the season, going on to win the title in Melbourne. He had the opportunity to make all four Grand Slam finals in a season, a feat achieved by four men in the history of the sport. 

Sascha Zverev has now established a more than 4,000-point lead over Alcaraz for the world No. 2 spot, and the gap to Sinner at the top is now down to around 1,810 points, which was once considered an impossible margin earlier this year. 

Part of the lingering skepticism toward the German traces directly to the head-to-head records behind those numbers. Sinner has a one-sided record against Zverev, holding an 11-4 edge, having won their last ten meetings outright. Against Alcaraz, the record is closer, 7-6, but the defeats have come at the worst times. From there, a theory has been formed among critics that Zverev’s two titles this year came precisely because neither man was there to beat him when it mattered most.

There are plenty of players in the history of the sport who have been dealt a good draw, been in the right place at the right time, benefitted from catching a rival on an off day or an early upset elsewhere in the bracket, and still could not deliver when the opportunity was right in front of them. 

What separates Zverev this year, in Becker’s eyes, is that he did not let the chance slip. He accepted the challenge that was in front of him and turned that into two Grand Slam titles. For a player who spent more than a decade being labeled as the best player to never win a major, that alone is worth defending loudly.