Tennis icon Boris Becker scolds Alexander Zverev in fiery rant after Australian Open exit
ALEXANDER ZVEREV crashed out of the Australian Open to Denis Shapovalov in the fourth-round on Sunday.
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Alexander Zverev has been slammed by fellow former German tennis player Boris Becker following his fourth-round loss at the Australian Open. The world No 3 was one of the favourites for the title but suffered a straight-sets loss to Denis Shapovalov on Sunday.
Zverev came into the Australian Open as one of the favourites with Djokovic absent, as the highest remaining seed in his half of the draw and the winner of two big hard court titles in 2021 - the Olympics and the ATP Finals.
He was yet to drop a set en route to the second week, but ran into a red-hot Shapovalov in the fourth-round, as the world No 14 secured a 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 victory to book a spot in his maiden Australian Open quarter-final.
The German looked a shadow of his usual self, playing passively while the 22-year-old jumped on every opportunity to pressure his opponent.
Now, Boris Becker has slammed Zverev for failing to try during the one-sided defeat.
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"Very disappointing," the six-time Grand Slam champion said of Zverev's performance, spekaing on Eurosport.
"Sascha never found his game, he didn't develop dynamism or aggression."
The German tennis legend noted that his younger compatriot wasn't in the match the whole way through, slamming him for failing to give enough effort.
He continued: "Right from the start, you had the feeling that Shapovalov was always a step ahead. The Canadian was livelier. I haven't seen Zverev that passive for a very long time.
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"You can lose and play badly, but you still have to make an effort and leave your soul on the pitch. We missed that today."
The world No 3 was also in contention to steal the top spot of the rankings from Djokovic, and would have become the new world No 1 with a title victory in Melbourne.
Becker addressed the missed opportunity, saying: "Sascha's dream of being number one in the world after the Australian Open now is over. He has to think about what happened there.
The retired former world No 1 also said a fourth-round showing wasn't good enough for Zverev.