Yesterday, we saw two of the biggest upsets of the Australian Open as both the World No.1s, Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber crashed out of the Australian Open in the fourth round. While Murray lost to Mischa Zverev in four sets, Kerber was no match for Coco Vandeweghe as the 36th ranked American beat her in straight sets.
Nonetheless, Zverev’s triumph over Murray was one of the upsets of the competition with only Denis Istomin’s win over Novak Djokovic in the second round bettering that. Zverev’s famous win made him a sensation all over social media and his ranking will be expected to rise at least 16 places when the tournament concludes.
With only hours to go before the German takes on Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, let’s take a look at five things you did not know about the 29-year-old.
#5 He has a 3-1 head to head record against former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero
Zverev’s shock win over Murray was his first against the Scot in four meetings and his first ever win over a current World No. 1. He has beaten a few top 10 players throughout his career but one head-to-head record of his that stands out is that against 2003 French Open champion and former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Even though the Spaniard was way past his prime when Zverev beat him, his ranking was much better compared to the German’s on two out of three occasions.
The first time both these players met was at the now defunct PTT Thailand Open at Bangkok in 2006 when Ferrero was ranked 18th and Zverev was ranked 196th. Zverev clinched the match in three sets and went on to reach his first ATP quarter-final.
Their second meeting was in the second round of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships when Ferrero was ranked 21st and Zverev 92nd. The German won the first two sets 6-4 before the Spaniard retired during the third set due to a hamstring injury.
Their third meeting was in the final qualifying round of the Rome Masters when Ferrero was ranked 104th and Zverev 54th. Zverev came back from a set down to take the match in three sets and qualify for the main draw. This was the only instance when the Spaniard was ranked lower than Zverev. Ferrero, however, won their final encounter in the second round of the 2011 Barcelona Open in straight sets.
#4 Zverev spent three years playing at the ATP Challenger and ITF circuits
During the twilight of 2011, Zverev had a miserable decline in form with his ranking falling below 200 and going as low as 280 during the first week of November. At this point, he decided to take a break from the ATP World Tour and instead play on the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures tournaments.
The southpaw went on to play in those tournaments for a span of three years between 2012 and 2015. During this time, he did not win any singles titles but won two doubles titles on the Challenger Tour.
In the Futures circuit, he won one title at the USA F28 Futures tournament. However, it was during this time that his ranking dropped as low as 1067 during 2015. However, he returned to the main tour in 2016.
#3 All of Zverev’s ATP titles are doubles titles
Since turning professional in 2005, Mischa Zverev has won two ATP titles and surprisingly, both of them have come on the doubles circuit. His first title was the 2008 Gerry Weber Open at Halle where he was partnering Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
The duo began the tournament by defeating the German pair of Rainer Schuttler and Denis Gremelmayr in the first round following which they won by walkover against the Czech pair of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals.
In the semis, they beat another German pair comprising Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner. In the final, they beat the fourth-seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy.
Zverev’s second ATP trophy came a few months later at the Japan Open. Once again he was partnering Mikhail Youzhny and once again they faced the duo of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy in the final. However, this time they won the match in a more convincing fashion by defeating the top seeds in straight sets.
#2 Zverev has had a relatively better junior career
There have been a number of top players on tour, who have come into the senior level on the back of a successful junior career, including the likes of Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Zverev, who has not enjoyed much success in his senior career, actually had a relatively good career on the junior circuit.
In juniors, the leftie reached a combined ranking of 3 and produced a few decent performances at Grand Slams. In singles, his best performance at a junior Grand Slam was reaching the semi-finals of the 2004 US Open, where he was beaten by Andy Murray. He also reached the quarter-finals of the French Open and Australian Open in 2004, where he was beaten by Alex Kuznetsov and Novak Djokovic respectively.
In doubles, Zverev reached the final of the 2004 French Open partnering Alex Kuznetsov, who had previously beaten him in the singles tournament. They lost to the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Pablo Andujar in straight sets.
#1 Zverev has reached both of his Masters 1000 quarter-finals as a qualifier
In his career so far, Zverev has reached two Masters 1000 quarter-finals and interestingly, both of them have come when he entered the tournament as a qualifier. The first instance came in the 2009 Rome Masters. After beating Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first round of qualifying, Zverev defeated former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final qualifying round to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, he began by defeating Tomas Berdych in three sets which was followed by another three-set victory over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Both these wins came after Zverev lost the first set. In the third round, he stunned 8th seed Gilles Simon in straight sets to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final. He was eventually defeated by Roger Federer in straight sets.
The German’s second Masters 1000 quarter-final came a few months ago at the 2016 Shanghai Masters. In the first round of qualifying, Zverev defeated Russian Karen Khachanov before defeating Ryan Harrison in the final qualifying round to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, he defeated Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze in straight sets which was followed by a surprise victory over 12th seed Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. Zverev qualified for his second Masters 1000 quarter-finals by defeating Spaniard Marcel Granollers, again in straight sets.
In the quarter-finals, he was up against Novak Djokovic and gave the then World No. 1 a run for his money as he won the first set before the Serb held his nerve and won the next two sets to take the match.
