By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 15, 2026
Photo credit: Davis Cup/ITF
Rising up to year-end world No. 1 hasn’t dulled Alexander Zverev’s dedication to game improvement.
Now, Zverev is aiming to curtail his chronic ball-bouncing habit.
Zverev’s ritualistic, repetitive ball-bouncing before serving—and habit of running the serve clock all the way down—caused criticism during his run to his maiden US Open championship last month.
After defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 to reach his 11th semifinal of the season at the Rolex Shanghai Masters today, Zverev said he’s deliberately bouncing the ball fewer times than he did in Flushing Meadows. The 29-year-old German plans further reduction in the ritual that has annoyed some opponents.
“ I just go when it feels right. But if you noticed, I am doing it less than I did in New York,” Zverev told the media in Shanghai. “I think it was going to an extreme for me in New York.
“I was not aware of it because my phone was off, I didn’t see social media and all that. I was only aware of it after, and I’m trying to work on it, for sure.”
Of course, Zverev isn’t the only major champion consumed be a case of chronic ball-bouncing. Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors and Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic each went through periods of deliberate dribbling before serving. Zverev said diminishing his ball-bouncing is his effort to eliminate distractions for opponents.
“You know, there’s certain things that I feel like have to do with fairness of the game,” Zverev said. “And not distracting your opponent, and if I’m doing something that my opponents feel like I distract them, I don’t want to do it. I want to win with tennis, that’s what I do.”
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