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WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2016

Alexander Zverev

London, England

A. ZVEREV/P. Mathieu
6‑3, 6‑4, 6‑2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You have just taken apart a very good player. How happy are you with your play?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, it was good. I mean, obviously the conditions were not easy. We had to start, stop, start, stop again. But I'm happy the way I played yesterday, and, you know, that gave me a pretty big lead.
Obviously today was very tough with the conditions, and also the court was still a little bit wet. So, you know, it was tough to move. The court was quite fast. I'm just happy to get it done and to serve it out.

Q. Do you have much experience with this kind of typical British weather?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Not that much, because last year was 35 degrees and sunshine every day when I played.
So, yeah, that was the first time for me to start/stop. But in Paris this year was like that. I had to play against Herbert over two days. And obviously with, you know, with my next round also we had to start/stop, so I had a little bit like that there, as well.

Q. Given your form and obviously reaching a final just before playing here, is it possible for you to come up with an expectation for what you're looking to achieve this fortnight?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I feel like I'm playing well. So we'll see how it goes. But, you know, I have very tough opponents. I just beat one who is very good, who has been up there with the big guys.
So, you know, I have to go round by round. And now, you know, I have Zeballos or Youzhny. Youzhny, who obviously has been top 10 and is very tough opponent. We'll see how it goes.

Q. How do you process the hype that follows you around? Obviously there is a lot of external expectations for those of us in the media, people watching, as well. You have been touted a lot recently, especially I think Patrick McEnroe just labeled you as the No. 1 prospect in world tennis. Is this easy to deal with or do you even think about it?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, you try not to think about it too much. Obviously it's nice to hear from great players like that that they see the talent that I think I have, but, you know, there is still a lot of hard work ahead of me, you know, to be up where I want to be.
Yeah, but we're a very good young group of guys who are coming up with obviously Nick being there. Dominic is top 10 now. So they are kind of leading the charge and I'm trying to keep up with them. Of course I'm a little bit younger. I'm a little bit younger than Dominic and two years younger than Nick, but obviously they're doing very great. We will see who will be good in the future.

Q. How important was your victory over Federer in Halle? And was it the kind of feeling of getting the monkey off the back with some of the tough matches like with Rafa in Indian Wells? Also, was it interesting for you and difficult to kind of back that up in the final the next day? Did you learn anything from that process?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, I mean, the match against Rafa helped me quite a lot for the match against Roger. You know, I couldn't quite close it out against Rafa even though I had match points, but then I learned and then I knew what I had to do and the next time I play such a big player. Against Rafa was my first time really having a chance against one of the big guys, one of the big four.
I mean, yeah, that match helped me. I think the win against Roger was really good. I think I played very great tennis. Obviously, you know, it was not nice to lose in the finals, but I think Florian has been playing very good the whole week there.
Yeah, unfortunately I didn't win, but all at once it was a very positive week for me, I think.

Q. You mentioned the lesser players, sort of the top young players: yourself, Nick, Dominic. How long do you think it will be before someone breaks through and kind of cracks into that lead that Andy and Novak seem to be taking care of at the moment?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, I mean, Dominic is top 10 now. He's been semis in Paris and winning a lot of big tournaments. I kind of feel like he already did it a little bit.
Yeah, I mean, the question is who and when somebody will win a Grand Slam, I mean, we'll see about that. Novak is playing unbelievable right now. Andy is pretty much only losing to Novak if it comes to that. Roger is still there even though he's been a bit injured. But, you know, he's still playing great tennis.
We'll see in the future how it goes. I mean, I really think that some of the young guys can really play with them in the future and maybe even beat them, but, you know, it still takes a little bit of time.

Q. How far off do you think you are from that kind of winning Grand Slam level?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I don't know. We'll see. (Smiling.)

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