'I went home & I was devastated, I was done'- Alexander Zverev on IW 2016 loss to Rafael Nadal

Alexander Zverev burst on to the men's tour at the mere age of 18. And after his first few flourishes in 2016, he was touted as the man to break the hegemony of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings.

But many believe the World No. 7 has underperformed in the years since, despite the fact that he has two Masters 1000 titles and an ATP Finals trophy. Zverev was expected to start challenging for the Slams by now, and that is an area where he has failed spectacularly.

The German does have quite a few notable wins in the best-of-three format, though, including wins over each of the Big 3. Recently, the German spoke about his first meeting with one particular Big 3 member - Rafael Nadal - and how his close loss left him in tears and 'devastated'.

Rafael Nadal would have been my first top 10 win: Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev (L) and Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells 2016

During an interaction with basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, Alexander Zverev was asked when he last cried after a match. Without batting an eyelid, the German replied that it was after his match with Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells in 2016.

Zverev was on the cusp of defeating one of the players he had idolized for many years, but he couldn't quite land the knockout blow.

"I had a match point and I had a volley about two or three yards from the net. A high volley from the forehand. I had to put it away and I missed it," said Zverev. "I think it was 5-3, 40-30 my serve. And I didn't win a single point after that."

Can you tell i’m a huge @swish41 fan? 🤣🏀 #legend @atptour @NBA Check out the full edit on my IG pic.twitter.com/ptcBJEnOut

— Alexander Zverev (@AlexZverev) July 31, 2020

The two were playing each other for the very first time, but for much of the match Zverev looked like the veteran in the matchup. He dominated the baseline exchanges to win the tightly contested first set in a tiebreaker, before Rafael Nadal recovered to quickly push the contest into a deciding set.

Alexander Zverev once again asserted his superiority from the back of the court, and raced away to a 5-3 lead. But it wasn't meant to be for Zverev that night; at 5-3, 40-30 he took his foot off the pedal, and the Spaniard won four games in a row to win the set 7-5.

"I was 18 and didn't have a top 10 win at that time and Rafa would have been my first top 10. I went home and was devastated, I was done," Zverev recalled.

After a few more memorable defeats to the Spaniard - including a five-set thriller in the third round of Australian Open 2017 and a rain-stricken final at the Rome Masters in 2018 - Alexander Zverev did eventually overcome the Rafael Nadal challenge. He registered a straight sets win over the Spaniard in the group stage of the Nitto ATP Tour Finals last year, to tick off an important box from his checklist.

The loss in 2016, however, continues to haunt Alexander Zverev; even today he can't help but think of what might have been.