The German is the tennis player on the circuit who has spent the most hours on the court in the last three years, surpassing his closest pursuer by almost 100 hours.
Efficiency is a key concept for extending sports careers, optimizing efforts, reducing injuries, and being able to offer the best performance at peak moments. Alexander Zverev is not the best in that aspect, as demonstrated by the excessive amount of hours he has invested on the court in the last three seasons. What repercussions does this have for the German?
Competitive tension, physical and mental demands, challenges in finding recovery time, and fatigue buildup. All of this is what emerges in those players who spend too many hours on the court. Whether due to an overly ambitious tournament schedule or because he has to resort to epic efforts to win many matches, thus extending his time on court, the fact remains that Alexander Zverev is the hardest-working player in the world. This is evident from the data provided by @PhilBlack09, which analyze the time spent on court by players in recent years.
Zverev is the player who has spent the most hours on court competing in the last three seasons
It is true that the more matches you win, and therefore the better player you are, the more chances you have to spend hours on the court competing. Zverev has played an impressive 82 matches this year, as he did in 2023, while in 2024 he played 90. These are remarkable figures that, when compared to the top players in the world, highlight the excessive amount of matches the German competes in.
For instance, Alcaraz has played a total of 224 matches in these three seasons, compared to Zverev’s 254, while Sinner has accumulated 222 matches in the last three seasons. It is true that this is influenced by various factors, from injuries to doping sanctions, and obviously by the performance in tournaments played, but it is telling that Sascha has played more matches than the two biggest stars on the circuit. Furthermore, when we analyze the time spent on court, the difference becomes even more pronounced.
Zverev surpasses both Alcaraz and Sinner in matches played and time spent on court
Indeed, Alexander Zverev has been the player who has spent the most time on the court competing for three consecutive seasons. He ended 2025 with 164 hours on court, resulting in an average match duration of two hours, surpassed only by players like Auger-Aliassime, Musetti, Norrie, Borges, Khachanov, Paul, or Djokovic. However, all of them played significantly fewer matches than the German, thus avoiding the physical and mental fatigue he experiences.
The most striking fact is that Alexander Zverev has accumulated a whopping 535 hours competing in the last three seasons, significantly surpassing all of his rivals. The second on the list is Carlos Alcaraz, with 454 hours on court, while Jannik Sinner completes the podium with a total of 449 hours. Historically, this tendency to struggle in each match and compete excessively has been a burden for Zverev, who at 28 years old, will have to start considering selecting his schedule more carefully and being more aggressive on the court to reduce his time there. Otherwise, injuries will become more frequent, and his competitive edge will diminish.
