Mischa Zverev had a firm game plan on what he'd try to do against Andy Murray during their Australian Open fourth-round match on Sunday. The left-handed German would try to disrupt Murray's rhythm as much as possible, serving and volleying and slicing often against the top seed.
If that didn't work, well, Zverev might have been in trouble. “There was no Plan B, really,” he said. “I can't stay on the baseline, a couple feet behind the baseline, try to out-rally him. He's very strong physically. He has a good baseline game. I knew I had to come in. That was my only chance to win.”
Fortunately for Zverev, the plan worked. The 29 year old shocked the tennis world by beating Murray 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, denying the five-time finalist his eighth consecutive quarter-final appearance at Melbourne Park. Zverev clinched his first last-eight showing at a Grand Slam.
“I believed in myself. I believed in my game,” Zverev said.
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His serve-and-volley game is a throwback to decades past in tennis, when serve and volley was the game and the baseline wars of today were the anomalies. Zverev, though, has a warning for those interested in joining him at the net: Be prepared to be discouraged.
“I feel like it's a very different mindset you need to have as a serve and volleyer,” he said. “I always say it takes longer to develop a serve-and-volley game because eventually you're going to get passed a lot, especially when you're younger and you play top guys.”
It happens when you're older as well. Earlier this month, Zverev faced Rafael Nadal at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Spaniard whipped Zverev 6-1, 6-1 in 55 minutes and won almost 80 per cent of his return points.
“He killed me... I really felt like I had no chance,” Zverev said. “I feel like if you're younger and you feel something like that on the court, you get discouraged quite easily. You change to, 'Let's stay on the baseline, let's try to get somewhat of a rhythm going.'”
But after his loss to Nadal, Zverev stayed with his serve-and-volley plan, and now he's in the quarter-finals of the season's first Grand Slam. That's the key to the serve-and-volley tactic, he said: Sticking with it.
During his Australian Open third-round match against American John Isner, Zverev fell behind two sets to zero. But he didn't retreat to the baseline; he kept charging at the 19th seed and eventually fended off two match points to win 9-7 in the fifth set.
“I was still trying to stick to the same game plan,” he said.
Things can change as match wears on, too, Zverev said. If your opponent is passing you at every opportunity during the first set, his level might drop by the end of the second set. “If it doesn't,” he said, “then you just walk off the court. You say, 'Well done, you passed me too well.'”