Two Top 10 players beaten in 2026. Two Grand Slam titles. I don’t see a problem, I see a pattern. Alexander Zverev beat Taylor Fritz in the Wimbledon quarter-finals and Ben Shelton in the US Open final, and he won Roland-Garros and New York without meeting Alcaraz, Sinner or Djokovic.
According to We Love Tennis, fans and observers talk about “luck”. People don’t realise. Reading a draw is a skill. When the draw comes out, I get my folder out. I spot the two I can’t beat. I pray they go out early. That isn’t luck, it’s passive preparation.
The thirteen straight defeats against the other three, I understand that too. I have a run like that against two women from the club down the road. It has no official number, because I stop counting after seven, for hygiene. But I’ll say it without shame: in intentions, I’m at their level. My strings weren’t up to it on those days.
And Zverev did beat Fritz and Shelton. That’s what nobody says. Beating a top 10 player comes down to one point, one zone, one decision. The down-the-line backhand that closes it out, that shot, I make it. Not every time, but I make it. On court 4, under the neon, it has a slightly heroic side.
Céline, you can’t compare. You’ve never won the tournament.
A calendar detail. According to We Love Tennis, Zverev wants to become world number 1 and has a good chance of getting there by the end of the season. Me, I’m waiting for my AFT (the French-speaking Belgian tennis federation) ranking in January. Two practice sessions away, mind you.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
