ROLAND GARROS

June 11, 2021

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/A. Zverev

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

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You're getting closer to reaching the final here. What pleased you most about how you played today and what are you most frustrated or disappointed with?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I said it before, I'm not at a stage anymore where great matches are something that I'm satisfied with.

Today nothing. I lost. I'm not in the final. Was it a good match? Yeah. But at the end of the day I'm going to fly home tomorrow. There's nothing positive about that.

Q. Sounds a bit simple, but what can you take out of another strong semifinal in a major?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: The same answer as before. I don't particularly care about semifinals. Might sound bad in a way or might sound, I don't know, arrogant. I'm not trying to be arrogant. I'm just saying it how it is.

I wouldn't have cared about a final either, to be honest. I didn't win the tournament. Wimbledon is in two weeks' time and I'm looking forward to that.

Q. Can you maybe explain what happened with the issue with the chair umpire?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, he said that I had no chance of making the shot. I was on the ball, I hit it with the middle of the racquet. I didn't quite get his explanation.

But didn't change. I mean, I won the third set anyway, so it didn't really matter that much.

Q. Do you feel in some respects, because it means so much to you, that you weren't able to play the type of tennis that you would have liked to today?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, in the first two sets, definitely. I mean, I started to play proper tennis in the third set. Against someone like Stefanos, it might be too late.

Today if I break him the first game of the fifth set, maybe the outcome would be different. I didn't. But still, I mean, I can't go down two sets to love against a top player like Stefanos and expect to win every single time.

I've done it at the US Open. I've done it before. But the most important thing to come out of this match are the first two sets. I got to play better in those.

Q. Bearing in mind what you just said about not wanting to just play great matches, but to actually end up winning them and the titles, what do you do? How long will this sit with you going into Wimbledon?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, Wimbledon is in two weeks' time. I guess not that long because Wimbledon is around the corner.

But, yeah, I mean, look, today during this tournament, during the whole clay court season, I felt like I was playing well, I was playing well enough to go deep. But at the end of the day, as I said, coming out of the match and playing the first two sets like I did against a top guy like that, yes, you can win the match, but it makes it extremely difficult if the guy has to win one set and you have to win three sets.

I almost did it, but I got to start better. When I come into these matches, I got to be a hundred percent from the first point on.