The thing that Zverev “hadn’t done before” was reach the quarterfinals or better at a major. This US Open, more than any Slam before, was the logical time for the 20-year-old German to make that breakthrough. He has won five tournaments in 2017, including two Masters 1000s; this summer he won 10 straight matches in Washington, D.C., and Montreal; he cracked the Top 10 and nabbed the No. 4 seed at the Open. He even had the good fortune to land in the much weaker bottom half of the draw. When the highest seed in that half, Andy Murray, pulled out, Zverev become the favorite to reach the final.
But while Zverev was lucky with his draw at a macro level, he was unlucky at a micro level. In the second round, he ran into a buzzsaw. Coric—also 20, and also a card-carrying member of Generation Next—had obviously seen the headlines about how Zverev was the future of tennis. Once upon a time, Coric was also called the future of tennis, and he seemed determined to remind everyone that, while he’s ranked 61st to Zverev’s sixth, he still has a big future in this game.
“Of course I needed it,” Coric said of his win. “I just went out there, I was fighting. I gave my best. I gave my all. I left it all on the court.”
Coric’s effort was remarkable for its stubbornness; even down love-40 on his serve at the end of the fourth set, he would not be denied. With a few weeks’ perspective, maybe Zverev will look back and realize that Coric put in an extraordinary performance on that day.
For now, though, Zverev can only wait until next year to take his next crack at a Slam. What can he learn from his losses in 2017?
After Wimbledon and the Open, Zverev harped on his own missed opportunities. In both cases, and in other matches this season, he has tended not to go for the throat when going for the throat was called for. Zverev, an offensive player and a shot-maker, was too content to engage in long rallies with Coric, who loves to grind.
On other occasions this year, Zverev has let his opponents hang around even after he had established his superiority. One example was his win over Denis Shapovalov in Montreal earlier this month. Zverev was clearly a more polished and complete player than his 18-year-old opponent, but he struggled to deliver the knockout blow in the second set.