WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 15, 2021

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on what happened a couple of weeks ago. Are you still on Cloud 9? How have the last couple of weeks been? As another part, where have you placed that medal, which you have also explained, I think, is the most important trophy in your career?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Am I still on Cloud 9 now? Yeah, a little bit. This is obviously a feeling that very little tennis players have ever felt probably. Winning that medal is the biggest thing that can happen in any sport, because, you know, Olympics is very special. You're not only competing for yourself, you're competing for a lot of people. I think I have said that a lot of times. I'm not going to repeat myself.

So it is a very special feeling. But I've got to get back to playing so I've got to forget a little bit. I've got to forget that feeling a little bit and I've got to start, you know, working again and start competing again.

I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to hopefully change how Cincinnati tournament usually has been going for me. I'm looking forward to that.

Q. How important is that going to be for your confidence in the long term, but at the same time how do you avoid maybe a little bit of a letdown after such euphoria, such a high, and then coming back to get back on the court, as you say, to get things going again?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I am extremely hungry. I'm not satisfied yet. Yes, I know that I'm having a pretty good year, even though, you know, for the Olympics you don't get points or prize money or something like that, but I think it still counts like the biggest title of the year.

So I am extremely happy with that, but at the end of the day, there is a Masters coming up now which started today for a lot of players. There is a Grand Slam coming up.

Those are two very important and big tournaments. I'm looking forward to competing in those and, yeah, proving that I'm still one of the best players.

Q. Congratulations on the gold medal. I know you have said now you have to kind of get back to reality and everything. Can you just elaborate a little bit more how special it was, if there is a difference, in playing for your country and then you beat, of course, Novak, so do you learn anything that you think you'll bring to your game now?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, look, I'm past the stage of learning. I'm 24 years old now. I'm not at a stage where I'm learning, you know, how to play tennis anymore.

Yes, I'm learning every day on different experiences and different situations, yes, but I think, you know, a lot of guys now are at the stage where we're trying to compete for the biggest titles of the world, and I feel like if you look at the Masters winners this year, we had a different Masters winner every single tournament. So I think there is a lot of guys that are hungry for more right now.

Q. Where is the medal? What have you done with it?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: The medal, yeah, sorry, I forgot about that. The medal is at home in Monaco. I'm getting a glass case for it done, so like a glass box where I'm going to put it in the middle of the box and place it next to a few other trophies.

I have, like, in my living room, I have like different stages of trophies, so, I don't know how to say it, it's not a closet but it's like built into a wall.

Q. Cabinet?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: So there are different steps. I'm going to put the trophy in one of the middle steps where you can see it quite nicely. I've got a few more empty ones there for you-know-what trophies (smiling).

Q. This year is a little bit different than last year. Can you tell me like how you felt like coming to the U.S. this year, like the situation here with the virus? It feels a little bit better and safer and the tournament is in Cincinnati. Can you just let us know how you feel?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I'm extremely happy to see so many people, because I have always said that live sports and sports in general need spectators, because the spectators are emotions.

I think it's great to see the crowd back. It's great to see that life is slowly going back to normal. I think a lot of people have missed that.

Of course, you know, health and safety is the No. 1 priority and is the most important thing, but if we are able to have spectators and if we are able to have a crowd at tennis tournaments, I think that does give you, you know, something extra there. It's great to see that here.