Alexander Zverev has somehow managed to fight all the negative noises around him to make it to the 4th round of the Australian Open 2024. The German has come under a lot of pressure in the tournament as he fights a legal court case back home over serious domestic abuse allegations. But Zverev will have a lot of thinking to do when he takes on Great Britain’s Cam Norrie next.
When it comes to his Australian Open 2024 journey, Alexander Zverev has had to scrap right from the first round. Zverev lost a set against an unseeded German player, Dominik Koepfer. After that, the World No.6 was stretched to the unlikeliest of 5-setters against Lukas Klein of Serbia. It was in the third round when Alexander Zverev looked more convincing, winning in straight sets against Alex Michelsen of the United States.
Similarly, Cam Norrie, ranked No.22 in the world, is growing from strength-to-strength in the tournament. As easy as he had it in his first round match, it was extremely that difficult in the second round. Norrie had to battle in a 5-setter against the unseeded Italian, Giulio Zeppieri. The Brit has already a major challenge in Casper Ruud in Round 3 and he ousted him within 4 sets, much to the surprise of many fans, tennis pundits and neutrals alike.
Both the players have never played each other in a Grand Slam. However, on head-to-head, Alexander Zverev leads 4-0 in professional ATP Tour matches, even as Norrie had beaten him twice in the early years of their careers. Based on Zverev’s ranking, experience and ability to knock out a player of any stature on his day, The SportsRush predicts a 4 sets win for the German.
The Zverev vs Norrie clash is scheduled to take place not before Monday, 12 AM ET (4 PM local time) at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. The weather is expected to be cloudy with some chances of rain, so the match could be played indoors, and that could make it much more competitive than it being mostly in Zverev’s favor.
The winner of the Zverev vs Norrie clash would take on the winner of the Alcaraz vs Kecmanovic Round 4 match. While many would expect Zverev to play Alcaraz, Norrie and Kecmanovic are capable enough for upsets. The winner would also be guaranteed of a $400,000 paycheck minimum for making it to the quarterfinals. While the loser will surely take home $250,000 for a fourth round appearance.
