The milestone has been reached.

Zverev has clearly gone up a level since his Grand Slam title, don’t you think?

I find him calmer, more at peace with his tennis now; he’s also managing his schedule like a guy who wants to be good at the big tournaments. I like what he brings every time and he seems motivated to go after the title this week. His loss to Griekspoor doesn’t bother me that much, he’s his “bogeyman” and nobody really cared in Montreal. This week he looks much sharper and despite dropping a set against Norrie it was actually pretty good, and he’s just backed it up against a great Atmane—two first rounds that will get him going for what’s next! The conditions suit him and he handles the heat/humidity well; on paper he’s supposed to go deep.

Deep, yes, but careful, because he’s “already” running into Paul at this stage of the tournament, and even if the American isn’t at his peak, he’s still an incredibly tough guy to beat most of the time. After a very high-level first round against Hurkacz, I was a bit disappointed with his match against Vallejo where he scared himself badly. Worse on a bunch of easy shots, with no answers from the baseline, he had to dig really deep to turn the match around. The thing is, it’ll be easier to play good tennis against Zverev afterwards with zero pressure!

There aren’t really that many matches between the two to sink your teeth into. I’d say that a good Paul can really hurt him with his rhythm and tempo, but he really has to be at his very best, otherwise Zverev can shut him down in lots of ways. I’m missing something on Paul’s side to honestly say that right now he has the level to really challenge Zverev.