Zverev Not the Favorite against Federer in Halle

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Zverev Not the Favorite against Federer in Halle

“He’s definitely the favorite in that match” is what Alexander Zverev told an interviewer after reaching his second consecutive Halle final with a three-set win over Richard Gasquet on Saturday.

Smart kid.

And he’s probably right, but don’t discount the fact that Zverev is playing in front of his home crowd in Germany, or the fact that the German saved six of seven break points in snapping the top seed's 15-match Halle winning streak. At the time, Zverev's previous biggest wins by ranking were victories over a pair of world No. 13 players: He beat Marin Cilic at Montpellier and defeated David Goffin in the Munich quarterfinals. A year later the German is an even more dangerous opponent. He became the youngest player to win a Masters 1000 title in a decade when he dismissed Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the Rome title, and he has amassed three titles and 33 wins already in 2017.

That’s enough to make Federer leery.

“I think he’s got home court advantage,” Federer said on Saturday after defeating Karen Khachanov in straight sets.

He added: “He’s got a wonderful serve and one of the best backhands in the game, and because he’s young he’s got nothing to lose in some ways.”

Federer, who will bid for his ninth Halle title and his 92nd overall, will hope to beat back the ATP’s Generation Next with a vintage performance. It’s something he’s quite comfortable producing at Halle, where he’s gone 58-6 lifetime.

And he likes his form thus far at Halle, where he’s won all four of his matches in straight sets.

“The first three rounds were good,” said Federer. “I played better as the tournament went on. Today was sort of an even performance but I feel like I have to lift it up maybe just a tad, if I want to win here.”

Wins are hard to get against Federer on grass. He’s compiled a 156-24 record on the surface, but lost three matches on the surface last year for the first time since 2002. With one loss (to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart) already suffered this season, no doubt Federer would like to head into Wimbledon with a victory over a rising star who is now considered a top player.

He plans to devise a gameplan that will keep Zverev off balance to do it.

“[Zverev] is a tough player to player to play against,” he said. “We played against each other last year in the semifinals and he beat me in three sets. It may be up to me to change a couple of things around.”

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