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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2017

Mischa Zverev

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. ZVEREV/A. Murray

7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How would you sum up today? Is that one of the best matches your life?
MISCHA ZVEREV: Yeah, definitely the best match of my life, not only because it was a best-of-five set match, it was at a slam. I don't know. It was just incredible.

Q. What do you feel was the key to your success?
MISCHA ZVEREV: Well, I believed in myself. I believed in my game. I believed that playing serve and volley against him and slicing a lot, trying to destroy his rhythm was going to work, which it did in the end.

I felt comfortable going, like, three, four sets, even though it wasn't that hot, but it was still pretty warm. I felt like I could hang in there with him, you know, sometimes rally and come in quickly. I feel like everything just worked out well.

Q. Does it mean more because he didn't fold, he was playing, and you just had the better of him?
MISCHA ZVEREV: Yeah, I think he definitely didn't want to lose. I feel like the last couple months in his career were phenomenal because he finished last year as world No. 1, won Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, and won the Barclays. He has a lot of confidence. He's been playing well recently. I felt like it was a good match.

Q. How did you stay so calm?
MISCHA ZVEREV: I don't know how. Sometimes it just happens. You try to distract yourself by doing the right thing on the court. I kept looking at my box. My mom was always smiling. That helps. My dad's focused. Everybody else was just chilling. I feel like there's a good atmosphere going on, which keeps me entertained and focused on the court, and then tried to stay positive, which worked out.

Q. How hard is it to stay committed to that much net rushing?
MISCHA ZVEREV: Well, it was somewhat okay because I knew there was no Plan B really. Like, I can't stay on the baseline, a couple feet behind the baseline, try to out-rally him. He's very strong physically. He has a good baseline game.

I knew, like, I had to come in. That was my only chance to win. So, yeah, honestly there was no Plan B for me, so that's all I could do.

Q. We don't see guys playing like that, especially this deep into a slam. Do you think it can be something that can work for more guys or something you're uniquely able to pull off?
MISCHA ZVEREV: I always say, like, it takes longer to develop, like, a serve-and-volley game because, I mean, eventually you're going to get passed a lot, especially when you're younger, you play top guys. Like what happened to me two weeks ago in Brisbane against Rafa, he killed me 1-1. I really felt like I had no chance.

I feel like if you're younger and you feel something like that on the court, you get discouraged quite easily. You change to, Let's stay on the baseline, let's try to get somewhat of a rhythm going.

I feel like it's a very different mindset you need to have as a serve and volleyer. You need to go to the net, get passed for two sets. Like what happened with Isner, I lost two sets. I was still trying to stick to the same game plan. It kind of changes in the end. If it doesn't, then you just walk off the court, you say, Well done, you passed me too well.

Q. How well did you know Andy when you were coming up with him? How did you go against him when you did?
MISCHA ZVEREV: We played each other in juniors, like, twice. I think once in a European Cup under-16, a quick indoor where I beat him. I played him in US Open juniors 2004. He beat me quite easily in the semis. I think we played in a futures, actually two more times in futures, and he beat me both times.

Growing up with him, I know his game. He was always, like, a counter-puncher. He moved well. He knew how to maneuver the opponent around the court.

But I knew, like, I could get to him with my game. I knew I could slice a lot, come in, try to annoy him, which worked. I mean, yeah, I've known him for a long time.

Q. Can you take a minute and talk about the journey. You played in ridiculous challengers, the injuries, the role of your brother.
MISCHA ZVEREV: It's a long story, if you really want me to tell you the journey...

I can tell you it wasn't easy when I came back from wrist surgery two years ago. It was my brother who said, You can make it back, you can be top 100 again, be a great player. I have to say thank you to him quite a lot.

It wasn't easy. I dropped to, like, 1100 I think beginning of 2015. I was ranked very, very low. It wasn't easy.

But having such a great family where, like, my brother's doing well, the whole family's there to support you, it was a long journey, but it was a fun one. When you see him doing well, there's a lot of positive emotions in the family on the court, off the court.

Even when I feel like I'm not doing too well, he's playing finals in Halle, beating Roger in the semis, it just gives me just positive emotions that I take with me to the next tournament and do well there.

Q. How close did you come to quitting? Was there any moment in particular that stopped you, that turned fate around?
MISCHA ZVEREV: The quitting, no, I didn't know what to do. I was hurt. I had a cast on my left arm. I couldn't really do anything. I couldn't hold a racquet. I started, like, traveling with some juniors that were, like, friends of my brother. They were coached by my parents every once in a while. I asked them if they needed help. They said, Yeah, sure.

I started traveling with them to some futures, south Texas, really not the nicest places around the world. Nothing against south Texas, but we went to really like small towns, playing futures, no hospitality. You stay at hotels, eat at Subway. You do all that stuff.

I realized, A, I missed playing myself, and B, I still felt like I could do some damage on court. I felt like I was still pretty young and I started missing tennis myself.

As soon as I started feeling better, my wrist was better, I started my off-season 2014 in November with my brother and Jez. I felt like, Let's try it again.

Q. There's a big age gap between you and Sascha. Seems like you are pretty close.
MISCHA ZVEREV: I think the age gap even helps. I'm old enough to understand what he's going through right now. I know when to be his brother, when to be his friend, when to give him some advice or just let him be. I think it's something that actually helps us a lot.

He's a lot younger. Obviously, he doesn't have the experience, but he's very, very positive. I say it's in a naÃ¯ve way sometimes, which is good. You need that kind of personality next to you. When things are not going your way, you have somebody who is just always positive, always believing.

He's the kind of person, Look, I made up my mind, don't confuse me with facts. He's that kind of person. It's good. Facts are not always helpful. Once you made up your mind you believe in yourself, that's the way you do it.

Q. You've beaten the world's best player as of now, you're 29, same age. Other than injuries, why hasn't that level of tennis been produced before?
MISCHA ZVEREV: Because everybody, we're still human beings. Everybody develops his game and his personality in a different way. I was playing pretty well when I was 21 years old. I was 45 in the world. Then I had a couple injuries. But then also maybe I didn't focus enough on tennis. Maybe I didn't work hard enough. There's just different little things that lead to not maximizing your potential.

Obviously I fractured my wrist, fractured ribs, then herniated disc and all that stuff. At one point you're never healthy, you feel like it's not fun anymore. You try to play, then you get hurt again. There's times when you don't feel like working that hard, playing. You kind of drop in the rankings, your game's not great, you don't have confidence. It takes a lot of time to get it all back.

I think I needed to drop to, like, the bottom, like with the wrist injury, where I started basically from scratch. Then all that actually helped me to understand how much tennis is -- like how much it means to me.

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