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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 31, 2020

Alexander Zverev

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

D. THIEM/A. Zverev

3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What would you take from this tournament? What do you think helped you make the step forward in your game? How can you step further in the future?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, it was a great tournament, great match today. I don't know. I came to this tournament different. I didn't play my best. I went step by step, match by match. Usually I didn't do that in Grand Slams.

Maybe I can take that away, but right now I'm still a little bit disappointed about the match.

Q. Have you got any regrets? Do you feel like there's anything you could have done differently? Was he just better?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I had a lot of chances. I had 14 breakpoints. That should be plenty. In the important moments, I didn't play my best. He did. That's where the match kind of went his way.

We've had a lot of tight moments, four tight sets. In the third set I had set points. In the fourth set, I had chances.

Yeah, just got to execute better next time. But credit to him. He's playing unbelievable tennis right now.

Q. Do you feel like, given it was your first semifinal, could you feel the pressure more?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I was nervous in the beginning. I think that's normal. At the end of the day, as I said, it was a great match. He played some very high-level tennis. He was the best opponent I played this week. Credit to him. He deserves to be in the final.

I think we had some amazing rallies. But it was not like a low-level match where you could see we're nervous or something like that.

I think he has a chance in the finals, though, if he's physically fine. He did play a lot of long matches. But, yeah, we'll see.

Q. Could you feel any extra support from the Australian crowd after your bushfire appeal earlier in the event?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, the Australian crowd is always very nice to me. I love playing here. They know I love playing here. I always feel welcomed here. That was great.

Yeah, unfortunately I could not make it happen with all the prize money. As I said, I will keep my promise. I will donate the $50,000 and hope that can help a little bit.

Q. You served really well tonight. How difficult was it to turn around your serve in this tournament?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I practiced a lot. I've talked about it a lot. I've spent hours on that shot. So at some point I knew it had to come back.

Q. It's a different run of results at this slam in terms of the way you got to where you got, straight sets all the way until the match against Stan. Do you feel like you know why that is, what you've achieved here that maybe you didn't previously?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: As I said, I went here in a different way. I went match by match. Didn't look very far. I just knew I had opponents in front of me. I had to play well to beat them. That was it.

Whenever I won, I'd sit down in the locker room and somebody told me who I'm playing next. That was it. I started playing really well I thought against Verdasco. I thought the first two matches I didn't play great. Got through them somehow, which was good.

The Verdasco, Rublev match I thought I started playing really well. From then on I played great tennis.

Q. You've played him lots of times. What is he doing particularly well at the moment?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Dominic?

Q. Yes.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: He flattens his shot out much more. Before he was a complete clay court player. A lot of movement, a lot of running around, stuff like that. Now he has a complete hard court game, which he can play on clay. Of course, he still plays the old way. On hard court, he's a much different and much better player.

Q. The other day you said sometimes you were impatient to reach this level. Thiem is 26 years old. You're 22. You can be patient a little bit. Do you think he has really a chance with Djokovic?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It's more difficult. But I think he has a chance. He's playing the best tennis of his life. I think he's playing much better than he played in London, to be honest. I think it was a much better match that we played.

Yeah, I do believe that he has a chance. I do believe he's playing good enough. I wish him nothing but the best.

Q. He has one day less.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: You have to ask him how he feels. I don't know. I cannot go into his body.

Yes, he's 26 years old. I'm 22. But everybody has their own way. Everybody has their own path. Doesn't really matter what everybody else does. I want to have my own way. I want to have my own path. I want to be the best I can be.

This I still need to prove to people.

Q. Can you explain what happened with the lights?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: The lights went off in the back of the court.

Q. Did it affect your capacity to see?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I went to the baseline, the lights went off. I don't know. That's basically what happened.

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