AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2024

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/C. Norrie

7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, congratulations. What do you think made the difference in the end today?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I feel like I played the best tennis in the tiebreak of the fifth set. I think that was extremely important. I mean, for a large part of the match I was obviously not feeling great on the court. I was not hitting the ball as well as I was maybe the previous round, the previous match.

Yeah, I got the win in the end, and I'm in the quarterfinals, which I'm very happy about.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just finished the match with Alcaraz. He mentioned that he thinks he has an advantage of you because he has played less sets.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: 100%. That's the question?

Q. Yes. How do you feel about it?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: For sure.

Q. Is that going to be an advantage?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, for sure. If you play less, you are fresher, but I feel okay. I'm not like the US Open where I was completely dead and where I feel like I'm physically exhausted.

I'm tired, for sure, because I played 7-6 in the fifth set again two times out of the last three matches, but I'm not dead. I'm not completely exhausted. I'm not in the same physical state I was in the US Open.

I expect it to be very different, to be honest.

Q. You have fuel in the tank?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: 100%. I also think that coming out on the Rod Laver Arena at 7 p.m. for a quarterfinal match against the No. 2 player in the world, that gives you energy, as well.

I hope it's going to be a very fun, entertaining match.

Q. Can you talk to us a bit about the ups and downs of this match, how you went into it, how your mentality changed a little bit at the end as well.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I was in control at the beginning, obviously being a set and break up. Lost focus. He also started playing a lot better.

It was kind of in my hands. Yeah, I mean, I think when the sun went down and the court was in full shade, we both played a lot better. I think the fifth set was probably the best set that we played.

But at the end of the day I'm just happy that I won because it was a very tight and very close match. Could have gone both ways, obviously, with it being 7-6 in the fifth set.

But I'm through and I'm happy about that.

Q. The disruption in the third set when the pamphlets got thrown out there, were you aware of that on court, or did somebody tell you what happened later?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, I mean, I saw it. I don't know what it was about. I heard same thing happened in JCA or Kia Arena or something like that. We were not the only court.

What was it about?

Q. Pro-Palestinian.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: There's obviously a lot going on in the world and a lot of quite bad things happen. I understand some people are frustrated. Of course, a tennis match has nothing particularly to do with it. I also understand both sides there.

Q. I think two fans ended up dragging them out. Security didn't seem to be around.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: That was a little bit surprising because the security here, I mean, on-site where the players' area is, is extremely strict. Even today, I played obviously five sets, four hours, some minutes. I went to the locker room, and the gym area is right next to the locker room. They wouldn't let me into the gym because I forgot my credential in the locker room.

What are you doing? You're protecting players from players. That's not really the whole point. Something like this happens and it takes three, four minutes for somebody to show up.

I think that should be the opposite. It should be where it's already the quarterfinals and you know the players. Especially there's obviously screens and TVs everywhere in front of all the security guys, if you've seen somebody play for four and a half hours, it's okay to go stretching in the gym, even if you forgot your credential.

That's not sounding arrogant. I understand they're all doing their job. But I think when something like this happens, it shouldn't be another fan dragging the other person out. It should be the security guys that should be there quite quickly. It shouldn't take them three, four minutes, that long.

Q. Can I ask you why you wanted to join the players council, if there were any particular issues you were focused on that were important to you?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I actually got asked to do it. Obviously I didn't nominate myself. I was asked to do it.

Do you want to be nominated?

Sure.

The players voted. The players voted me in.

But I think there are right now at this stage, as you probably heard with a lot of discussions about a lot of other things, there are decisions that have to be seriously considered and seriously made. I think we have a great group of guys in there who are capable of discussing it, who are capable of talking about it.

I think there are some issues that us with ATP really kind of want to focus on. Some of them are, for example, the Davis Cup format. Then other things are obviously the schedule of our tournaments. I think playing for 11 and a half months or 11 months a year is too much, in my opinion. Widening the schedule.

Having more 500 events, having maybe more Masters events, it's a great opportunity for players, obviously, but I think also it is maybe getting a bit out of hand and a bit too much, as well.

There's just all of those discussions. But they're very nice discussions. Nobody's fighting in there, nobody's screaming or shouting. We are all there to achieve the same thing and have a better tour.

Yeah, I'm happy to be part of it.

Q. About Cam, you mentioned the other day that you trained with him in Monte-Carlo. What did you make of his performance? Very aggressive, do you think that's the game style he should play?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: If he can, for sure. If he can play this way, then for sure it's going to make him improve and make him better.

Incredibly aggressive, I thought. Taking the ball very early. He usually does that with his backhand, not so much with his forehand. Today he did that with his forehand. For the first time since I've been playing him, for the first time I thought his forehand was better than his backhand, which was very unusual.

Normally he gives you a few more unforced errors. He's not as stable. I thought he was very stable today. I thought he was very aggressive with that shot. Credits to him.

I think they had a great off-season and he has improved a lot.