Zverev vs Griekspoor — the top seed returns with rust to shake off
Preview · Montreal (ATP Masters 1000) · Round of 64 · Wednesday 5 August 2026
Alexander Zverev begins his Montreal campaign as the top seed, the world number three, and the man who has spent 2026 collecting the biggest prizes on offer to anyone not named Sinner or Alcaraz. He is also a player who has not hit a competitive ball since the Wimbledon final and has not played a match on a hard court since March. Tallon Griekspoor, meanwhile, has been grinding through a miserable season and has just found something, beating Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(5), 7-5 on Tuesday. The Dutchman knows exactly what he is walking into, because he has walked into it eleven times before.
The matchup
This is their twelfth completed meeting and Zverev leads 9-2, a scoreline that flatters neither the rivalry's competitiveness nor Griekspoor's persistence. Both of the Dutchman's wins came on hard courts: Rotterdam indoors in 2023, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and, more encouragingly, Indian Wells in 2025, where he survived 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Zverev has won the last three, including a 7-5, 6-0 dismissal in the United Cup in January and a straight-sets win at this same Masters 1000 three years ago, 6-4, 7-6. Griekspoor is 30 and ranked 69, well below the level he once held; Zverev is 29 and has 25 career titles against Griekspoor's three.
Form & hard courts
Zverev's year has been outstanding. He reached the Australian Open semi-finals, then the last four at Indian Wells and Miami, the Madrid final, and won Roland Garros without losing a match, beating Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 in the final. He followed that with a run to the Wimbledon final, where Jannik Sinner beat him 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4. The caveat is the calendar: his last hard-court event was Miami in March, and his last match of any kind was that Wimbledon final. Griekspoor's 2026 record stands at 9-16 before this week, but the shape of it is instructive, because almost all of his good tennis has come on this surface. He reached the Dubai final in February and made quarter-finals in Montpellier and Rotterdam, then won nothing of note across clay and grass, losing in the opening round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
The deciding factor
Rhythm against class. Griekspoor is the sharper man by a distance right now and he has beaten Zverev on a hard court within the last eighteen months, so the template exists: serve well, take the ball early, keep the German moving forward and hope the first set stays tight. Zverev's vulnerability tends to be exactly this sort of opening match, when the timing is not there and a big-serving opponent can steal a tie-break. Against that, Zverev's return of serve is far better than Griekspoor's, and over three sets the Dutchman's weaker second serve becomes a permanent liability.
The call
Zverev to come through, but not comfortably, and a set for Griekspoor would surprise nobody. Call it Zverev in three, with medium confidence. The head-to-head, the ranking gap and the season either man has had all point one way, and only the layoff argues otherwise.
