{"id":2631,"date":"2026-08-13T16:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:15:24","slug":"rafael-nadals-uncle-offers-theory-why-alexander-zverev-and-stefanos-tsitsipas-have-underperformed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2631","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal\u2019s uncle offers theory why Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have underperformed"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of chasing the shadows of Novak Djokovic<\/a>, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, the early Gen Z up-and-comers wanted to cash in on the tennis action.<\/p>\n

At the age of 20, Alexander Zverev<\/a> ended 2017 ranked fourth in the world, partly due to winning his first Masters 1000 crowns in Rome and Canada.<\/p>\n

Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> enjoyed a breakout run at the 2019 Australian Open as a 20-year-old, beating defending champion Federer in the fourth round before being thumped by Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

The pair seemed the most likely to take up the mantle that these all-time greats had held for so long. Perhaps they felt, after years of near misses, that it was their divine right to ascend to the tennis throne. However, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner<\/a> had other ideas.<\/p>\n

When the fourth-seeded Tsitsipas lost to a 19-year-old Holger Rune in the fourth round of the 2022 French Open, he uttered words that have not aged well.<\/p>\n

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The Greek said, \u201cThese kids are going to want to beat me badly because obviously they are chasing. I\u2019m chasing too, but I\u2019m at a different kind of position than they are. I\u2019m hungry to beat them too. Now that they have beaten me I want payback.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Tsitsipas ended the year in fourth, Alcaraz<\/a> went on to win the US Open, reach world No 1 and overtake the two-time Grand Slam finalist and Zverev in the rankings.<\/p>\n

Although Zverev has bided his time and pounced when the draw opened up for him at this year\u2019s French Open, Tsitsipas dropped outside the world\u2019s top 50 as players increasingly targeted his seemingly fragile backhand.<\/p>\n

So, why didn\u2019t former world No 3 Tsitsipas and Zverev kick on in the way many predicted? According to former Barcelona footballer Miguel Nadal, who happens to be Rafael Nadal<\/a>\u2018s uncle, it is down to a number of factors.<\/p>\n

One, their \u201cmentality\u201d. And two, their lack of \u201cambition\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Spain international told Casinostugan<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThere are players who I think have gone through a slump, more mental, I think, though it is not only mental either, because if it were, it would be simpler.<\/p>\n

\u201cTsitsipas was a player who could have been up there; Zverev was a player who should have been up there too, and I think what he has lacked is ambition.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have seen him win Roland Garros and reach the Wimbledon final, but there are other players who had potential and have more or less disappeared. I think the two at the very top [Sinner and Alcaraz] clearly make a difference compared with the rest, but you see players who clearly have potential, and then\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why I say it is about mentality. There are players who have the ability but lack the mentality, the ambition, and I think that is what is missing on the tour right now. But no doubt some will come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zverev has shown he can consistently be a top five player over the years, while 2019 ATP Tour<\/a> Finals winner Tsitsipas seems unlikely to challenge the game\u2019s elite again. For the Greek, in particular, it may be a case of what might have been.<\/p>\n

GO DEEPER: Roger Federer rival contrasts Swiss\u2019 \u2018circus\u2019 tactic to the new approach of Novak Djokovic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Rafael Nadal\u2019s uncle offers theory why Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have underperformed<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After years of chasing the shadows of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, the early Gen Z up-and-comers wanted to cash in on the tennis action. At the age of 20, Alexander Zverev ended 2017 ranked fourth in the world, partly due to winning his first Masters 1000 crowns in Rome and Canada. Stefanos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}