When Andre Agassi won his first Grand Slam in 1992 at the age of 22, something dawned on the American.
During this year’s French Open, he said that “nothing” changes if you win a Grand Slam. Ergo, you still have to keep working so hard, and the pressure does not ease up.
The eight-time major winner said, “We have had a lot of one Slam wonders, that have done some[thing] incredible — I’m sure they’re thrilled they won. When I finally got over the finish line [and won my first Grand Slam], I was let in on a dirty little secret: that winning changes nothing.
“You are gonna have that pressure again if you have more expectations from yourself. So you gotta deal with it, you gotta bring it on Sunday like you did at the start of the tournament.”
Linda Noskova echoed similar sentiments to Agassi after winning her maiden major at this year’s Wimbledon. Since then, the 21-year-old has struggled with motivation and results.
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Heading into the US Open, the Czech star said, “Once you feel like you have kind of achieved the dream that you have always been thinking about and dreaming about, it’s very tough to switch and to act like it never happened basically and go for the same thing all over again.
“The motivation is not 100% as it was right before the tournament.”
And after watching French Open champion Alexander Zverev slug through two five-setters in his opening two US Open matches, former world No 11 Sam Querrey has made an observation about the German.
Namely, just because you win a major, does not mean you can play with complete freedom.
He said on Nothing Major, “The top players get through these top rounds pretty easily. He [Zverev] is struggling right now, for whatever reason. I think there’s a whole myth that when you win a major it relaxes you and frees you up.
“That is so not the case. It’s not like all of a sudden Zverev won Roland Garros; he doesn’t get nervous or anything. That’s not just for him; that’s for anyone.”
Zverev certainly seemed to be playing with more freedom at Wimbledon, where he lost a tight four-setter to Jannik Sinner.
Meanwhile, after two lung-busting matches that finished in the early hours of the morning at Flushing Meadows, Zverev will hope for an easier match against 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo on Saturday.
Earlier on in his career, Zverev repeatedly had back-to-back five setters, meaning he was physically spent towards the business end of a Grand Slam.
If he is to win his first US Open, he will need to be much more efficient if he wants to be crowned champion in New York.
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