DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki said Wednesday that Alexander Zverev’s two Grand Slam titles this year remind him of his own career, when years of disappointment came before his breakthrough.
Nowitzki, who is from Würzburg, Germany, made the comments on Shan & RJ on 105.3 The Fan. Three days earlier, Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 in the US Open final. Carlos Alcaraz missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year with a right wrist injury. At Roland Garros, Jannik Sinner lost in the second round.
“He still won, right?” Nowitzki said. “And as an athlete, you kind of worry who’s on the other side of you. You can’t worry about who’s not part of this tournament or who did you play, who didn’t I play. You have to see who’s across, and you still got to go out, even if you’re the heavy favorite, and you got to go out and win.”
“And so all kudos to Alex, obviously, or Sasha. He’s had an amazing year, been in three finals, really had a chance to be in four with the Aussie Open also,” Nowitzki continued. “Incredible run for him, super happy for him.”
Alexander Zverev’s 2026 Grand Slam Run
Zverev is 29. He won Roland Garros in June for his first major, beating Flavio Cobolli in the final. Five weeks later, he lost the Wimbledon final to Sinner. He reached the Australian Open semifinals in January and entered the US Open as the top seed.
According to the ATP, Zverev is the fourth man in the Open Era to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same season. He spent 19 hours, 38 minutes on court on his way to the US Open final.
Before this year, Zverev had lost three major finals. Dominic Thiem beat him at the 2020 US Open, Alcaraz beat him at Roland Garros in 2024, and Sinner beat him at the 2025 Australian Open. Zverev also won Olympic gold in Tokyo.
Dirk Nowitzki’s Own Breakthrough In 2011
Nowitzki’s only championship came in his 13th NBA season.
“He’s in a later stage of his career, couldn’t break through, couldn’t break through for such a long time,” Nowitzki added. “Kind of reminds me a little bit of myself when every year there was disappointments. He was close in disappointments, and then now he’s finally broken through, so I’m super happy for him.”
In 2006, Dallas won the first two games of the NBA Finals against Miami and lost the series in six. The next season, Nowitzki won MVP, and the 67-win Mavericks lost in the first round to eighth-seeded Golden State. In 2011, Dallas beat Miami in six games for the franchise’s only title, and Nowitzki was named Finals MVP.
Nowitzki hosts the eighth annual Dirk Nowitzki Foundation Tennis Classic from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT on Saturday at Banner House at T Bar M in Dallas.
