Alexander Zverev looks to rise in the Far East

In a year of superstar injuries and the renaissance of legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the third-best player has been 20-year-old Alexander Zverev. He stands tall as the No. 2 seed for Beijing’s China Open.

The German wunderkind is ranked No. 4 in the world with a 47-15 record and five titles, including Rome and Montreal. If he holds off No. 5 Marin Cilic (Zverev defends 270 points and Cilic 1250 points to end 2017), he will soon pass injured Andy Murray when his 4500 points and five titles come off the board.

All of this is noteworthy for the young star, but he has his eye on bigger prizes. “Obviously I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to keep improving. I'm going to keep working just as hard as I did to reach other goals,” he said on the tournament’s official site.

“Grand Slams is something I want to improve next year. I want to get further in those tournaments.”

He’s already showed that he belongs with the veteran superstars when he picked up two wins and four points for Team Europe in the Laver Cup.

And while many tennis observers expect that Zverev will one day be the dominant player in tennis, right now he faces the same pair of hurdles that 20-year-old Novak Djokovic faced in 2007—trying to overcome Federer and Nadal.

“There [are] so many things that everybody's trying to improve,” he said to the ATP World Tour. “I think Roger and Rafa, they are the two best players of all time, but they still improve each year they play. You can never stop. That's something that I'm still going to be working on to get to the top of the game.”

There’s a lot to love about his surprisingly quick footwork to go with his strong serve and backhand. He can grind aggressively from inside the baseline, and he has the power and mental toughness to go for his shots.

“A lot of juniors, they play so-called ‘junior tennis’ where they put the ball in play, try to wait for their opponents to miss, stuff like this,” he added. “I was always somebody, even when I was losing, who was trying to be aggressive, always trying to hit the ball.”

Up first is Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund, one many young generational peers who will be competing to be the next big thing in tennis. There’s no shortage of talent and challenges on the ATP tour, and Beijing will be another small step in Zverev’s drive to the top.