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MELBOURNE, Australia – Alexander Zverev is a tremendous tennis player.

What he is not, it has become increasingly clear, is a champion.

The 28-year-old German, the third best tennis player on the planet, was beaten by … the real thing in the Australian Open semifinals Friday night.

The differences are stark, yet subtle. A matter of small margins. Getting a big serve back into court no matter what, at key points in games. Pulling the trigger and going for broke to break an opponent’s will, rather than making balls.

But the consequences are massive; they are the difference between being the one consistently holding up the big trophy and chasing immortality, and the one who always falls so tantalizingly, but predictably, just short.

The 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5, five-hour, 27-minute epic – we tend to overuse that word, but in this case it’s apt – that had Alcaraz vomiting into his towel halfway through, yet falling to the court in triumph at the end – was a perfect illustration of the abyss between the two.

If there was a situation tailor-made for Zverev to ascend to the Australian Open final, this was it. But he couldn’t pull the trigger.

One played as though no matter what, he always believed he somehow could win. The other played doing everything he could not to lose.

Just not … quite

Whatever you think of Zverev the man, the off-court dramas and on-court meltdowns, it’s almost inhumane not to have some sympathy for Zverev the athlete. The really good tennis player came along right when the three men who may go down as the three greatest ever were greedily gobbling up all the major titles.

And as they faded away, just as he was hitting his peak, two more champions came along to almost ensure that it would never be his time.

It’s not as though he hasn’t worked hard all along, trying to get better. It’s just that there’s always someone … better.

Nowhere in his upbringing, with a tight-knit family basically built around his sure future greatness, was there ever room for the possibility that he didn’t have all of the elements it took to get there.

There are technical weaknesses, to be sure. But even the great champions have those. They win despite them, figuring out ways to mask them, improve them or simply overcome them.

But he’s missing the biggest one: the champion’s heart. Or maybe it’s just a champion’s belief.

A spot in Sunday’s final after a win over the world No. 1 was there for the taking.

Zverev just couldn’t take it. It was almost like he wouldn’t let himself.

Alcaraz in big physical trouble

The day was warm. Nothing like the extreme heat on the first Saturday of the tournament, or even on Tuesday. But the humidity was up. And for whatever reason the conditions took a toll on both players.

But it was Alcaraz who bowed first. The cramps were clearly coming; after winning two tight sets, he vomited into his towel and finally started chugging the pickle juice that is just about the only thing that seems to even have a small effect on oncoming cramps.

Once they come, that’s usually pretty much it.

At that point, Alcaraz called the trainer. An irate Zverev pointed out that players aren’t allowed a medical timeout for cramping. And yet, Alcaraz was allowed one.

These decisions are supposedly made by the trainer and tournament physician, who too often will err on the side of the benefit of the doubt.

The German wasted energy arguing that extremely valid point, because it wasn’t going to change. And make no mistake, he did have a point.

Whether the treatment helped – there didn’t seem to be any ice involved, which is unusual in situations where a cramping player usually has ice bags frantically rubbed all over the affected limbs – is hard to know. Alcaraz didn’t even take an allowed bathroom break after the third set to change his kit and give himself a little more precious time.

Zverev won the third and fourth sets in tiebreaks. And if the profusion of Alcaraz drop shots seemed to be the opposite of what you’d think would happen, they paid off later. In that moment, they ensured that those points would be over quickly; either Zverev would get to the drop shot and put it away, or he wouldn’t.

If an opponent looks to be cramping, it’s usually the other player who will test his forward movement with drop shots. But as always, in key situations, Zverev’s tennis imagination didn’t allow for that.

“I didn’t do a good job in the third and fourth set. I should have won them easier in a way, but he was hitting a lot of winners from the first shot, so I wasn’t getting into the rallies. I should have probably been a bit more aggressive,” Zverev said.

“I got a bit nervous. I mean, obviously I’m down two sets to love, so I don’t want to lose my serve either, because then he can serve it out. Even not feeling 100 per cent he can still serve it out. You know, he’s still a great player no matter what is happening. Yeah, so I was maybe a bit cautious, maybe
a bit careful.”

Fifth-set drama

Zverev broke Alcaraz to start the fifth set. The Spaniard was always playing from behind, even as it was clear, once the sun set, that the conditions were cooling a little and he was moving better. The clock was ticking for Zverev. And he heard it loudly.

He served for the match at 5-3 in that fifth set. And he was broken.

Physically, he also was hitting the wall while Alcaraz was on his third wind. And at that point, the inevitable happened.

The champion won, falling to the court in triumph.

“I always say you have to believe, no matter how you’re struggling, no matter what you’ve been through,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview. “I was struggling in the middle of the third set. “Basically, it was one of the most demanding matches that I have ever played in my short career.”

The loser, always a gentleman in defeat in these moments, congratulated him and hugged him.

Then again, Zverev has had a lot of practice – far too much practice – in being the gracious runner-up in these situations.

And the way he manages his tennis in the key moments of those big matches has been about the same, every time it has happened to him.

Friday’s epic could have been the moment Zverev changed his narrative. It could have been the match that finally unlocked the champion he has always wanted to be, but has always fallen just short of being.

So many ifs

IF Zverev had just, for ONCE, thrown caution to the wind and just gone after it. Not been worried about losing, as he was in the third and fourth sets.

IF he’d won the second set the way he should have, when he was still fresh and his opponent was falling apart.

Zverev said that was his big regret.

“That one, for me, I felt like I should have won. Especially serving for it, I didn’t play a good game serving for it. Funny enough, I don’t have many regrets in the fifth set, because I was hanging on for dear life, to be honest. I was exhausted,” Zverev said. “But, yeah, the second set. I think … being one set all, and him starting to cramp in the third set, that probably would have made a difference, yeah.”

IF he’d reprogrammed his tennis hard drive, just for this one moment, and played to win instead of playing not to lose and half-hoping that a champion would falter.

It might hurt even more that he came perhaps the closest he’s ever come to seizing the moment. Rarely, in these monumental defeats, has he hit his forehand as well as he did on Friday. It just wasn’t enough.

Ultimately, that’s the difference. between good and great. The champions might lose, but they rarely falter in those big moments. No matter how big the serve is that comes their way, they figure out a way to put it into court. When that opening down the line comes, they don’t play safe margins.

And as they head off the court, win or lose, they rarely hang their heads and think, “It happened again”.

They know, deep in their hearts, that they did everything they could to turn it their way.

Either it turned, or it didn’t. But they rarely have to sit in the locker room alone, second-guessing their every move, wondering how and why they let the opportunity to be great just slip through their fingers. Again.

“I’ve been in these kind of situations, these kinds of matches before. So I knew what I had to do. I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it,” Alcaraz said. “I knew I would have my chances.

“I’m extremely proud of the way that I battled, the way that I came back.”

(Screenshots from Channel 9, Australia)

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