Australian Open 2019: Alexander Zverev explains reasons for his crushing defeat to Milos Raonic

Flared tempers, broken racquets, screams of anguish, and looks of pure despair characterised Alexander Zverev's performance in the fourth round of the 2019 Australian Open as the World No. 4 crashed out in unceremonious fashion at the hands of a resurgent Milos Raonic.

The German lacked any sort of rhythm on serve and despite making a strong start, earning a break in the opening game of the match, failed to build on the early momentum, dropping the first set 6-1.

The 'Next Gen' leader has been known to unravel under pressure, particularly in the Majors, and that was evident once again as he self-destructed to hand Raonic a two-set lead.

While he did offer up a semblance of a fight in the third set, the damage had already been done and costly errors in the tiebreak hastened his exit from Melbourne.

Zverev entered the tournament riding the wave of confidence his victory in London had generated, but the German conceded that a hangover from the biggest title of his career could have played a part in his dismal performance in the opening Major of the year.

"Yeah, there is a little [hangover]. For sure, I didn't have a very long off-season, didn't have a lot of rest. But, you know, this is us as tennis players. I'm happy how the season ended. I wouldn't want it any other way," he said during the post-match press conference.

Concerns regarding the German's fitness had arisen prior to the tournament as he appeared to be carrying a minor hamstring injury, and in the first couple of sets against Raonic, the 21-year-old seemed to struggle moving up and down the baseline, often appearing unbalanced and late to the ball.

However, Zverev shot down any suggestions of a lingering injury, instead attributing his loss to an overall bad show.

"I mean, I played bad. The first two sets especially I played horrible. Yeah, I mean, it's just tough to name one thing [that went wrong]. I didn't serve well, didn't play well from the baseline. Against a quality player like him, it's tough to come back from that."

"No," he added, when quizzed about a possible injury hampering his movement in the first set.

Zverev struggled on serve throughout the match, coughing up a whopping 10 double faults, and he admitted that that's one aspect of his game that has been particularly worrisome this past week.

"I have been struggling with my second serve the whole week, actually. I don't have a lot of rhythm on it, so I tried to figure that out, I tried to work on that. Hopefully I will be better next time."

The loss of one of his biggest weapons hit Zverev hard, and a lack of answers to Raonic's all-court game pushed him over the edge, the German obliterating his racquet after falling 4-1 down in the second set.

Frustration level 💯#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/7ThmuvoRzo

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2019

His performance improved drastically after the incident, and Zverev admitted that the release of all the pent up anger did help calm him down and focus on the task at hand. "Yeah, it made me feel better. I was very angry, so I let my anger out," he said rather morosely.

While yet another early exit at a Grand Slam will hurt no doubt, Zverev concedes that it's not the end of the world and there is still a lot to look forward to.

"Right now I'm not happy, but I'm not depressed, either (smiling). It's fine. It's a tennis match. I have learned to take tennis matches as tennis matches and not the be all and end all. If I think it's the end of the world every time I lose a tennis match, I would be very depressed about 15 to 20 times a year. So I'm not going to do that."