"He is now at an age where he has to do it," six-time grand slam winner Becker said of the 27-year-old Zverev in the podcast he is recording together with former player Andrea Petkovic.
"For me, Sascha has to win the grand slam title he longs for in the next 18 months, because otherwise it will be much more difficult than it is now."
The 2020 Olympic champion and twice ATP Finals winner Zverev has reached two grand slam finals but lost in five sets on each occasion, at the 2020 US Open against Austrian Dominic Thiem and at the 2024 French Open against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz.
He's certainly in the shake-up for the one title no leading player ever wants to be saddled with -- being the best never to win one of the majors.
His next chance comes at the Australian Open, with Zverev hoping to do better than when he reached the semi-final in Melbourne, both in 2020 and last year.
Becker suggested that Zverev should hire an additional coach, a "super coach" like other players have done, with the likes of Ivan Lendl, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Sergi Bruguera now havin g been joined by Andy Murray, who's helping Novak Djokovic.
"The father is already very dominant. And the mother is dominant. It's a family business. They did everything 99 per cent right. But that one per cent is missing," Becker said.
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