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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2019

Alexander Zverev

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. RAONIC/A. Zverev

6-1, 6-1, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A tough one today. What do you think went wrong out there?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I played bad. The first two sets especially I played horrible. Yeah, I mean, it's just tough to name on one thing. I didn't serve well, didn't play well from the baseline. Against a quality player like him, it's tough to come back from that.

Q. Were there any kind of injury concerns in the first two sets?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No.

Q. We saw you smash your racquet. Does that help? Make you feel better?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, it made me feel better. I was very angry, so I let my anger out.

Q. Do you often smash your racquet?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: You never watched my matches? You should watch my matches.

Q. At what point did you feel like you were struggling to put your game on the court?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: In the beginning, in the first set, after he broke me the second time, I'm not playing well, but obviously tried. I obviously tried to come back and obviously in the third set I started to play a little bit better, but, you know, it was a little bit too late already.

Q. Do you think possibly there is any sense -- you had a big finish to last season and a big high. Is there any perhaps sort of a hangover from that, do you think?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, a little bit. For sure, I didn't have a very long off-season, didn't have a lot of rest. But, you know, this is us as tennis players. I'm happy how the season ended. I'm not going to -- I wouldn't want it the other way.

Q. Anything different? You played him before couple years ago. Anything different you noticed about his game today?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No. I mean, not majorly. He played well from the baseline, but generally speaking, he's still a very aggressive player. He tries to come in. You know, all that stuff. Not a lot of things have changed.

Q. In hindsight, do you think you'd have been better off after London taking a much longer break, shortening your off-season -- shortening your training block?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, but then when do you prepare yourself physically? You can't really do it in the season. That's the only time. So you kind of have to -- you know, you have to adjust. It's always a give and take. If the season is 11 months long, it's always that kind of give and take in what you do, how you rest, and how much work you put in. That's just how it is for us tennis players.

Q. Do you guys who are sort of 20, 21, 22, look at each others' results and might want to beat the other guys who are that age when you look at how deep you go into a tournament like this?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, not really. I mean, I don't do that too much. I was happy for Foe and that he made his first quarter. Obviously I'm very close to him. I'm happy that the other young guys are doing well, as well. You know, just all of their first quarters, as well. Nothing but the best for them.

This is one of many tournaments. You can't really compete every single week saying you made semis there or quarters there, beat that. No, actually I want to be the best, but, yeah, not this week.

Q. Was it clear to you what was happening with your serve early on in particular? Could you put your finger on what may not have been working with the serve early on in the match?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I have been struggling with my second serve the whole week, actually. I don't have a lot of rhythm on it, so I tried to figure that out, I tried to work on that. Hopefully I will be better next time.

Q. Perhaps you would have not liked to come over here. You would have paid some money to avoid all these questions. But apart from that, well, are you still, I guess, optimistic about your career, your life? Even if you lost the match, it is not a disaster? In this moment, do you think, Oh, what a disaster? How do you react to a bad performance?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Right now I'm not happy, but I'm not depressed, either (smiling). It's fine. It's a tennis match. I have learned to take tennis matches as tennis matches and not the end of the world. If I would think it's the end of the world every time I lose a tennis match, I would be very depressed about 15 to 20 times a year. So I'm not going to do that.

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