Can Sascha also master this tough test?
There was a brief moment of shock, reminiscent of his serious injury at the French Open 2022, which led to a long break. In the end, however, Alexander Zverev quickly recovered from his knee injury in the second set of the second round of the Wimbledon Championships and went on to a smooth 3-0 win over Cameron Norrie (ATP 42). Should Taylor Fritz also win against Alexander Zverev, Sascha would reach the quarter-finals of the venerable London grass court Grand Slam for the first time ever
His American challenger already knows this feeling. Taylor Fritz was among the top eight players in the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 2022. It was one of his three Grand Slam quarter-finals to date. He has lost all three. In general, the Californian does not have a good record against top 10 players and has also lost both previous grass court duels at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club against the German superstar, which certainly influences our prediction for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev
Although this American-German round of 16 match pits two tall players against each other, who can certainly pass for serving giants and can win many free points with their service on the fast grass at Church Road, a classic grass duel is not to be expected. While it is usually 6:6 between two service giants after twelve games with six service games each and one of them wins the tie-break, both Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev not only have great return skills, but also have problems with their serve from time to time.
It is therefore more likely that the majority of the sets will be decided before the tiebreak. A bet that a maximum of one set in this round of 16 will be decided in a tiebreak, for which NEObet is offering odds of 1.82 for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev, therefore offers a lot of value.
Taylor Fritz – Statistics & current form
Current position in the world rankings: 12
Position in the seeding list: 13
The 26-year-old American Taylor Fritz has been a professional tennis player since 2015 and has only failed to make it into the main draw of a men’s singles Grand Slam tournament twice since the beginning of 2016. However, his successes at the four most important major tournaments on the ATP Tour have not yet been truly resounding.
The Californian has only reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam three times so far. In all three cases, this round was the last stop at the latest. Including in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2022, when the world number twelve was beaten 2:3 by Rafael Nadal after leading 2:1 in an epic five-set thriller
Taylor Fritz mostly disappointed against the big names
The poor record against the top stars on the ATP Tour runs like a red thread through Taylor Fritz’s career, who has only won 22 of his 60 matches against reigning top 10 players. He has never been able to beat a world number one.
He has also never had to knock out a big name at Wimbledon. Christopher O’Connell (ATP 79) was no great test at the start and took just seven games from the 26-year-old before the private feud with Arthur Rinderknech (ATP 76) continued in the second round, with the Californian smugly wishing him a good flight home after his 3:1 victory, which led to a verbal argument after the end of the match.
Taylor Fritz with strong scores on his own serve
In the third round, the American, who has now won 34 of his 46 singles matches in 2024, faced Alejandro Tabilo (ATP 19) for the first time, an opponent from the current top 20 of the ATP world rankings. Against the Chilean clay court specialist, however, the American was able to show off the power of his serve in a 3-0 victory.
The Californian whirled a whopping 20 aces around the South American’s ears, scoring on his first serve 92 percent of the time and not allowing a single break point against him. However, the bookmakers also think it is unlikely that he will succeed against a return player as strong as Sascha, as shown by the odds for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev, which are clearly in the German’s favor.
Alexander Zverev – Statistics & current form
Current position in the world rankings: 4
Position in the seeding list: 4
After a complicated 2023 season in which he had to fight his way back up the rankings after his aforementioned injury at the 2022 French Open, 27-year-old German Alexander Zverev has returned to the top of the world rankings.
In 2024, Sascha not only won another major title at the Italian Open, where he also defeated his current opponent Taylor Fritz 2:0 in two sets on his way to the title, but also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and even the grand final of the French Open
Sasha’s last big hurdle before the semi-finals
Now the Hamburg native, who has always reached the last 16 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, wants to reach the quarter-finals at the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career. Another feasible opponent, probably Lorenzo Musetti (ATP 25), would also be waiting there
So if Taylor Fritz’s bet on the German advancing against Alexander Zverev, who is now being properly tested for the first time, paves the way for a really impressive run, which is why the 27-year-old will also play a role at Wimbledon. The record is quite encouraging. Sascha met Fritz twice at Wimbledon. Both times he came out on top against the Californian
Alexander Zverev has not yet lost a service game
Alexander Zverev hasn’t let anything go wrong on his serve so far. Even Cameron Norrie (ATP 42) did not earn a single break point against the tall German, who won a total of 90 percent of his points on his first serve with 15 aces.
Conversely, Sascha was also convincing in the games themselves. In the duel against the British local hero, he had an impressive 52 winners compared to just 28 unforced errors. As a result, he won 32 percent of his return points on the fast grass. That was twice as high as his opponent’s rate (16 percent).
Taylor Fritz – Alexander Zverev head-to-head comparison / H2H result
Head to head: 3:5
The two athletes have faced each other a total of eight times in singles matches on the ATP Tour and Alexander Zverev has come out on top in five of the eight matches. The German not only beat Taylor Fritz 2:0 (6:4 and 6:3) in their last meeting to date in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open 2024 in Rome, but has also eliminated the American twice at Wimbledon.
In 2018, Sascha beat Taylor Fritz 3:2 in a five-set thriller in the second round (6:4, 5:7, 6:7, 6:1 and 6:2), before winning 3:1 in the third round in 2021 (6:7, 6:4, 6:3 and 7:6).
Taylor Fritz – Alexander Zverev tip
Basically, our prediction for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev tends to favor the German, who, despite a knee injury in the second set of the third round, did not lose a set in the third match in a row. Moreover, Sascha has already eliminated his American challenger at Wimbledon in 2018 and 2021 and – although, unlike Fritz, he has never reached a Wimbledon quarter-final – he is generally slightly better placed than the Californian on grass.
Although both players have a lot of potential for free points and fast games due to their size and strength, we still assume that very few sets will be decided in a tie-break.
We find a lot of value in the bet that a maximum of one set will go to a tiebreak, for which betting odds of 1.82 are available for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev, which we play with five units at NEObet.
