Federer criticizes Zverev's game as too passive

Tennis great Roger Federer said Germany's number one Alexander Zverev continues to make the same mistakes and criticized his game as too passive.

"I'm not his coach, so I can speak freely. When I watch him play, I see someone how plays far too passively, far too defensively in the decisive moments," Federer said at an event in Berlin on Wednesday ahead of the Laver Cup this weekend.

Zverev won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 but he's still waiting for his first Grand Slam title. He reached the finals of the US Open in 2020 and the French Open this year, but was defeated in both games.

"Against the best players in the world you have to take the initiative and play offensively. He didn't do that against Fritz," Federer said referring to this year's US Open quarter-finals between Zverev and American Taylor Fritz.

However, Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, stressed that everyone knows that Zverev has the potential to achieve his goal.

"There's not much missing. But to win a Grand Slam you have to trust your shots and play more offensively. He has to believe in this path. Every cell in your body has to feel that this is the only right way.

"The title doesn't just come to you, especially not the first one," the Swiss warned.

Zverev will join Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Stefano Tsistsipas in Team Europe at the Laver Cup in Berlin on September 20-22.

They will compete against Team World, which includes Americans Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, among others.