I am looking forward to giving Novak Djokovic a challenge: Alexander Zverev

The World no. 4 Alexander Zverev made a winning start to his US Open campaign as he defeated American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the second round. Zverev has extended his winning streak to 12 matches and he has been in red-hot form.

The German recently won Gold at Tokyo Olympics as he ended Novak Djokovic’s supremacy before winning his fifth ATP 1000 Masters title in Cincinnati.

Thus, a lot of experts consider Zverev as one of the major threats for Novak Djokovic. The German had finished as the runners-up in US Open 2020 as he had lost to Dominic Thiem in a five-set thriller.

Zverev stated that it was good to have the crowd back at the US Open after the previous edition was played behind closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is great to be back,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “I still remember last year’s final. I still remember the four-hour match that I lost, unfortunately. It is great to be back on Arthur Ashe Stadium and have the fans back, we definitely missed them last year.”

Zverev smashed 36 winners against the American and broke his opponent’s serve on four occasions. The 24-year old is hopeful that he can win the next six matches to win his maiden Grand slam title.

”I hope in two weeks’ time I will be on an 18-match winning streak,” Zverev said. “Novak [Djokovic] is chasing history to win all four majors for the first time since Rod Laver [1969], but I think the young guys are going to try and get in the way of that. I am looking forward to maybe giving him a challenge as well.”

Zverev revealed that he is in a good mental state and he has also worked hard on his serve as he is ticking the right boxes.

“I have been working extremely hard on a lot of things, like my serve,” Zverev added. “But when I am happy it is when I am playing well. That is the most important thing. The past year has been very good for me.”

Zverev will face Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the second round of the US Open.