|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 13, 2018Alexander ZverevMadrid, Spain A. ZVEREV/D. Thiem 6-4, 6-4 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Do you like the clay court in Madrid? Is it the altitude? Or is it that you are playing great since Valencia, Davis Cup? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I felt pretty good since Valencia actually. Was a little bit tired in Monte-Carlo, but still got to the semifinals, so... So far it's been pretty good for me on clay this year. Hopefully I can continue this kind of streak in Rome. Obviously the altitude fits me a little bit with my serve, with how I play, with me playing a little bit more aggressive than maybe others. That definitely fits me. But I just feel confident and comfortable right now. Q. You've looked invulnerable on serve from start to finish this tournament. How much confidence did that give you as you came to serve out for the title? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: A lot. Obviously I didn't get broken one time. But I don't think I faced breakpoints in the whole tournament. For me, this is an amazing stat to know in the back of my mind. When serving out for a title like this, especially against Dominic, who is one of the best returners especially on this surface, on clay courts. All in all, I'm just really happy with how I played, that I could win my third Masters. Q. You are just the fifth player to win three Masters 1000s. The other four are the big four. What does it mean for you? Active players. ALEXANDER ZVEREV: There you go. I'm pretty sure there's been more than three (smiling). It's a great feeling. Hopefully this will not be my last. Hopefully I can continue to improve, continue to get better, win a few more. Q. Dominic just hailed you as the best player on the tour behind Rafa and Roger right now. Do you feel at that level? How close to them do you feel? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, Rafa is the favorite no matter where he plays on a clay court. Doesn't matter where it is. He's going to be the favorite in Rome. He's going to be the favorite in Paris. Probably even bigger favorite in Paris than anywhere else. He's still the guy to beat. Of course, the way I played this week, the way I played winning the other Masters 1000 events, it's been great. But for me, those are still the two players who you want to beat, who are the top of the game right now. Obviously I'm unbelievably happy, but I know there's still a lot of work ahead to get to where they are. Q. Can you talk about your experience in this 10 days of competition, just Madrid? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean 10 days ago I was in Munich still. In general, the last 10 days has been pretty good, winning two titles in this time. One in Germany, and this one here is massive. It's been unbelievable. I'm not going to lie. I'm just going to do everything I can to continue this kind of streak, get the performance I had here in Rome. Q. How significant has the past two weeks been for you in terms of confidence going into the French Open? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Massive. As I said, winning two titles in two weeks is great. Winning a Masters, another Masters, is unbelievable. But before the French Open, there's still Rome where I'm the defending champion. Obviously I have a lot of motivation to do well there. I'm going to do the best I can to prepare myself for there, see how it goes. Q. You mentioned in your speech that you'd been doing three hours of physical work in the gym per day, really trying to build your physique. Is that more targeted towards Grand Slam level, trying to improve at best-of-five? ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, it's targeting competing and trying to win against the best players. Doesn't matter where you play. Obviously the three hours a day gym is in the off-season, during training weeks. It's not that I wake up in the morning, go three house in the gym before I play a match. That's not how it goes. But just trying to build my body, put some weight on. I'm probably 15 kilos heavier than I was two years ago. This is something I've been working on. Still going to try to work on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|