Novak Djokovic is set to face his biggest test at Roland Garros when he takes on Alexander Zverev in what will be a fascinating quarter-final showdown.<\/p>\n
The 24-time Grand Slam-winning legend is chasing another major title that would see him move ahead of Margaret Court in the all-time list of major winners.<\/p>\n
Yet the Serbian is not the force he once was and his former coach has predicted his German compatriot Zverev may be the favourite to win their showdown at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovak Djokovic is only still playing tennis because he wants to win Grand Slam tournaments,\u201d Becker told TNT Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe magical number of 25 is in the air, of course, which is why he\u2019s probably most dangerous at Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic handed major ATP Rankings chance ahead of Alexander Zverev showdown<\/a><\/p>\n The 7 men with most French Open match wins: Rafael Nadal 112, Novak Djokovic hits milestone<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSascha Zverev is perhaps physically the strongest player still competing. He loves the long matches, he loves the challenges. But you win the big matches in your head and not in your legs!<\/p>\n \u201cNow I have to admit that Roland-Garros is a very physical tournament where you have to push yourself to your physical limits for three to four hours. Zverev has an advantage over Djokovic in that respect. But we\u2019ll see what will be decisive in the end.<\/p>\n \u201cDjokovic comes from the generation of Federer and Nadal, where mind games were sometimes decisive for a match. The younger players like Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev are a bit more relaxed about it. But Novak will do everything he can and mobilise all his resources to win this match.<\/p>\n \u201cIt it comes down to physical fitness I would definitely favour Sascha Zverev. He\u2019s the younger and fitter player.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, you also need mental strength in the fifth set, but above all you need air and fresh legs. He likes playing against Djokovic and has beaten him many times \u2013 most recently at the Australian Open, however, due to an injury.<\/p>\n \u201cCompared to Djokovic\u2019s record against almost all other players, Sascha is in a good position. He doesn\u2019t mind playing against the legend, but reality is on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cI still have to feel it, maybe I need to witness the first or second set. Then a feeling like that can develop better.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, I think it\u2019s 50:50. On paper, Sascha might be the slight favourite, but the matches have to be played first \u2013 and Djokovic will have a say in that.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic was forced to retire from his Australian Open semi-final against Zverev in January due to an injury, with the German insisting he now expected to face peak Novak in their last eight clash in Paris.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, the guy won 24 Grand Slams. He\u2019s never gonna be a black horse,\u201d said Zverev, amid suggestions that he is the favourite to beat Djokovic on clay.<\/p>\n \u201cHe definitely knows how to play tennis. He definitely knows what it means to be on a big stage and play big matches. There\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, Carlos (Alcaraz) is the favourite. I would say the next three in line are Jannik (Sinner), myself, and Novak. I still believe that.<\/p>\n \u201cI still believe that in tennis and experience, Novak is up there with us. I think from now on, I have the toughest draw in the tournament. So I\u2019m looking forward to the battles ahead. I\u2019m looking forward to playing the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch every moment of the French Open live and exclusively\u00a0on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n READ NEXT: Alexander Zverev asked if Novak Djokovic is a French Open \u2018black horse or favourite\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Boris Becker picks a winner in epic Novak Djokovic vs Alexander Zverev showdown<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic is set to face his biggest test at Roland Garros when he takes on Alexander Zverev in what will be a fascinating quarter-final showdown. The 24-time Grand Slam-winning legend is chasing another major title that would see him move ahead of Margaret Court in the all-time list of major winners. Yet the Serbian […]<\/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-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","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=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}