The pain in Alexander Zverev’s voice was palpable. Jannik Sinner’s straight sets win in the Australian Open final left the German broken, much like the racquets which bore the brunt of his frustration at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Sunday.

It was difficult to be Zverev on Sunday. For the third time in his career, a grand slam teased him with dreams only to serve a rude awakening. The 27-year-old was
once again left in tears as someone else waltzed away with the trophy.

Quite “down” and “emotional”, the German did not know what else he had to do to be called a grand slam champion. “I’m doing everything I can. I’m working as hard as I ever did. I think I’m doing all the right things off-court. I think I’m practising the
right things. But I lost in straight sets today (Sunday). I mean, those are facts. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today,” Zverev said.

The sting in the final defeat this time was perhaps the strongest. The last two times he missed a major trophy from such close distance, he had competed far better. In both those matches, he led at one point and both went to five sets. But on Sunday, it was as if Sinner was telling him, ‘you might be No. 2, but you are miles from No. 1’.

Most tennis aficionados believe that Zverev deserves a grand slam trophy. Sinner does. The champion put an arm around the German’s shoulder and said: “Keep believing in yourself. Keep working hard, because we all believe that you can lift one of these very, very soon.”

But then, why is Zverev not being able to ace a grand slam final? He has the game to beat the best, but somehow is found wanting in the biggest matches. Is it then a case of losing the challenge in the mind?

Zverev has lived a troubled life off the court and things keep haunting him. Like on Sunday, his post-match speech was interrupted by someone in the crowd calling out the names of two of his former partners who had accused the player of physical abuse.

Zverev believes it’s a closed chapter. “I believe there are no more accusations,” he said. But maybe he needs to dive deeper into his subconscious to understand why he is not being able to spread his wings.

But there is hope. Zverev is not the first man to lose his first three grand slam finals. There are quite a few of them, including Andre Agassi, who ended up with eight grand slam trophies by the time he retired.