No one is immune from a slump. Rafael Nadal went through one in 2015, Novak Djokovic endured a rough stretch after winning the French Open in 2016 and let's not even discuss Roger Federer's 2013 season.

At 22, Alexander Zverev is going through his first significant slump after an upwards-only ranking trajectory throughout his young career. Despite being the holder of three career ATP Masters titles as well as the reigning ATP Finals champion, the world No. 3 has not gotten past the second round since February.

Advertising

His record is 3-5 since losing the Acapulco final to Nick Kyrgios, and his only ATP tournament before that was a round of 16 finish at the Australian Open. This week in Barcelona, Zverev lost his opening round to lucky loser Nicolas Jarry, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5), after holding a match point. Jarry then took out Grigor Dimitrov, also in a third-set tiebreak.

It's been a tough ride for Zverev this season, with the German even admitting that he is "in a hole."

"I'm experiencing defeats, especially on clay, that I haven't experienced for a few years," Zverev said. "But if you ask Rafa or Roger, they will tell you they've gone through the same thing, it's normal."

There's no need to panic, of course, but things won't get any easier for the 10-time ATP champion.

He will be defending titles in Munich (next week) and Madrid in (the first week of May) as well as a final finish in Rome. That means that even before he steps foot in Paris to defend a quarterfinal run, he risks losing 1,850 points.

Advertising