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NITTO ATP FINALS

November 15, 2019

Alexander Zverev

London, England, United Kingdom

A. ZVEREV/D. Medvedev

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You have a very good end of the season. My question is is it still some influence, some factor of the advices you get from Rafa and Roger during the Laver Cup?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Oh, it's not the advices. I think it's more -- you know, as I said, Laver Cup helped me a lot in the way I won the last match, and that gave me confidence. It's not like they gave me life-changing advices.

They told me how to win the match, but it was not for the future kind of like that, because I still have to play those guys.

But yeah, I mean, it's going well. I'm in the semis again, which I'm super happy about, and we'll see how it goes again.

Q. I was speaking to Boris on Tuesday, and he seemed quite relaxed about you not playing Davis Cup next week. I just wanted you to clarify why you didn't want to play next week.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, I said it a lot of times. I don't think the format is Davis Cup anymore. I think Davis Cup is the most historic event that we have in tennis, which is over 100 years old, and Davis Cup is the home-and-away ties.

Davis Cup is the whole atmosphere, the play over three days to play five sets and play those tough matches. That's Davis Cup for me, and not playing it at one venue for one week and deciding it all. That's not Davis Cup.

Davis Cup is going to South America, Davis Cup is going to Australia, like I did when it was the proper Davis Cup.

Yeah, I hope people realize that Davis Cup is more than just money and all that like they are offering us now. It's history, and it's tennis history. Yeah, it's more than just what's on the table for the players now.

Q. You've got Dominic Thiem. You haven't played him at all this year, I don't think.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No.

Q. What are your thoughts about going into that match?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, he's been playing some unbelievable tennis, maybe the best tennis that we have ever seen from him. Actually beating Roger and Novak on this court is very special. Doing it back to back is very, very difficult.

He's playing unbelievable tennis, and it's going to be a very difficult match. I'm looking forward to it. Honestly, I'm just happy to be in the semis, and from here on we'll just see how it goes.

Q. You had 81% of first serves in tonight. Is it an impression of mine, or you put a little bit lesser speed than in the two previous games?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Less speed? My average first serve is 140 miles an hour. I saw that today.

Q. Even tonight?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yes, it was. Yeah, I'm not sure about the less-speed part. I think I was just feeling it.

Q. We have only one of the Fab 4 in the semifinals, which is quite different from the past, in general. Another thing is isn't it a bit of a paradox that you had not a great year and you won just one tournament, and then now you are one of the favorites because of the speed of the court and so on? Nadal today was named No. 1 of the year. Two slam winners, one final, two Masters 1000. He's out. He goes home. So do think it's strange that the last tournament of the year causes completely different things than what happened in the whole year?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: By the way, I'm playing tomorrow night. I still have to make the match with those questions.

Q. Sorry.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No problem. Yeah, I mean, I think it's been not a strange tournament, but the young guys have been playing much better tennis than they were maybe last year.

I think the biggest surprise is actually that Novak is out of the tournament, because I think for him, this court, the conditions is the best fit for his game.

The other thing is the biggest surprise, obviously Rafa. Nobody expected him to be out from our group. Our group was very, very difficult, and for me and Stefanos to qualify, I don't think a lot of people would have picked, you know, especially probably me with the year I had. But we played good tennis over the last five days, so that helped us.

The tournament is still not over. It's going to be interesting to see who will be the winner. Maybe we'll have the oldest winner of all time. Maybe it's going to be one of the new guys, young guys. Maybe we'll have a first-time winner. We'll see how it goes.

I hope it will be a back-to-back for me, but I have a very difficult semifinal tomorrow. So far it's a very, very interesting tournament, I think.

Q. For someone your age, you have embraced social media quite late, so I was going to ask you...
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Quite light?

Q. Quite late.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Quite late, yeah, okay.

Q. I was going to ask you how it's been. Everybody knows how social media is. I have known the name Alexander Zverev since when your father played in the '80s. And because I called you Stefanos the other day, I got people calling me disrespectful pig. How has it been with regard to social media?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, no. No disrespect. Everything is fine. I took it the light way, as well. No personal feelings.

Yeah, I mean, I said it before I'm not a massive social media guy. I'm more, you know, interactual guy, kind of talk to people, communicate. This is the things that I have more value for.

I have been doing Instagram for a long time now, probably my favorite social media out of the three. I've started with Facebook and Twitter not too long ago. I'm not the most active guy on it, but it's part of the world that we live in right now.

Everybody is using it. Everybody, you know, wants to know what do you do, wants to know what do you have on your mind and what your thoughts are. This is the kind of things you can give your feedback to fans and kind of interact a little bit, and this is how it is.

Yeah, there is other young guys that are more involved in the social media stuff than me. I have always been a guy that is kind of laid back in this kind of sense.

Q. Last year's win was great for you. This year you seem very confident. You even said before your match with Medvedev, He's not going to win in straight sets. Is that the mindset you come into this tournament now? You expect to be in the semifinals and further?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Now, look, don't put it this way. I didn't say he's not going to win in straight sets. I just made a joke about it. A lot of people would think I'm cocky or anything like that.

He's very capable of winning in straight sets against anybody. He's shown it over the last few months. He's beaten me quite easily in Shanghai, so he's very capable of doing that.

You know, this arena, this place is special to me. I feel different here, and this kind of feeling I want to take to next year, as well, to the next tournament. Doesn't matter if I win or lose. Obviously I want to win and I'll do everything I can, but kind of memorizing this last year and this year and getting it to the other big events, as well, is something that I'll hope to do for the future, you know, next year and the next few years.

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