MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 28, 2024

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/F. Marozsan

6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Your movement today was tremendous. How did you feel out there compared to -- after your injury, you seemed to be moving sideways, front and back. Everything was great.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I felt good, but I have been feeling well the whole week so far. I thought he was my toughest opponent today, to be honest. I played some guys ranked inside the top 20 already, and I felt like he's playing unbelievable tennis.

So, yeah, I'm happy that I moved well, as you said. I'm happy that I did some other things well, as well, otherwise it would have been extremely tough today.

Q. Of course we don't know what's going to happen tonight, but if it is Carlos, no one is more complimentary to him than you are about his game, but you have a pretty good record against him. Why do you think that is? What is it about the matchup that works well for you and causes problems for him?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, actually the matches that I won, they were tough battles at times, you know, and great-level tennis. The matches that he won against me, he absolutely destroyed me.

So, you know, it's sometimes that. I think sometimes we play at the later stages of the tournaments where we're both playing extremely well already, and it's kind of like back-and-forth and I came out on top a few times.

You know, he beat me twice in Madrid where I had absolutely no chance. He beat me in Indian Wells where I had no chance. He beat me at the US Open where I had no chance.

So I know that I have to play my best tennis to even go into this kind of fight, go into this battle with him. Because if you're not feeling the ball or if you're feeling like you're put under pressure from the beginning, most of the time it's been a very quick match.

But I don't know. I mean, I think we're both aggressive players, I think especially at later stages of the tournaments. At beginning of tournaments, I'm always maybe a little bit holding back, maybe a slow starter to tournaments. But I think the stages where we are playing at, semifinals, quarterfinals of Grand Slams and big events, to get there you have to play well.

That is maybe more of a factor than just what fits well in the matchup. But as I said, against Carlos, you have to play well, otherwise you're going to get blown off the court.

Q. I know you played at this tournament in 2018, but your memories -- I guess you played against Isner in the final. Just memories from that year and that match. I know it was a different venue.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: But it was the last match that was ever played at that venue, so that was special, in a way, as well, I thought. But as you said, very different. There was really a South American vibe going on. Kind of a party mood all the time. Especially night matches were extremely fun. The atmosphere was incredible.

Here obviously, you know, the Hard Rock Stadium is one of the biggest stadiums in the world. Not for tennis but generally speaking. A very new stadium, very modern. Obviously we have a lot more space here.

But I loved Key Biscayne. I really did. I thought the atmosphere there was very special and very loud, very energetic. So obviously hopefully it's going to be good memories for me in both sites. You know, trying to build them here still.

Q. Also, are you a Miami Heat fan?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah.

Q. Did you go to any games? Do you live in Florida at all any part of the year?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I used to. I'm a massive Miami Heat fan, as I think a lot of people know. It's my favorite sports team in the world.

I did used to live in Saddlebrook, close by Saddlebrook, which is up north, close to Tampa, when I was a junior.

Q. But you haven't gotten to any games?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yes, I did. Before the tournament started I went to the game against New Orleans when they got blown off the court, unfortunately, yeah (smiling).

Q. Great playing today, and looked like you were playing really free. Sometimes in the past I have noticed you got tight. How do you keep your composure, especially when we get more to the end of the tournament against the higher-ranked players so you can play more free?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: You get older; it's as simple as that. It's about maturing, it's about realizing that if you have done everything you can in preparation, if you have done everything you can outside the court, if you lift kind of in a correct way, then even if you lose, that's okay, because you feel like you have done everything you can.

So it took me maybe more years than others for me to realize that. It maybe took me some more maturing than others as well. But as I said, we all get older, all hopefully get smarter. Some of us do; some of us don't. I hope I'm one of those that does (smiling). That's maybe it.

Q. You said about Marozsan, your comments on the court, you think he could maybe get up there with the top-10 guys. You mentioned him rushing and not giving players time. Is there anything else about his play that gives you that belief that he could go on and be a top player?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: To be honest, you know, if you have a now 4-2 record or before this match a 4-1 record against top-10 players, that means you have the qualities. You just have to maybe at times be patient enough and also bring it on a weekly basis. If he does bring it on a weekly basis, there is no reason why he can't be.

I thought today he was my toughest opponent this week so far, and I have played some top-20 guys, played some ex-top-10 guys as well. I thought he was playing incredible.

So that's why I said it. I still believe if he finds this tennis on a weekly basis it should not be an accident he's in the quarterfinals, semifinals of Masters 1000 events. And then you're top 10.

Q. You just said it, that it was one of your toughest matches. I want to ask, is there something specific that you learned from today's game that you're going to be taking on to the next one?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Generally or against him, you mean?

Q. Well, for the future, something that you can take on.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I have played, what, close to 600 matches in my career, right? So if I say that I have learned something from every single one, that would be a lie. But obviously playing him for the first time, there is a lot of things that did surprise me. There is a lot of things that I didn't expect or maybe I didn't see on the stat sheet, as well.

For example, I knew that he was extremely aggressive with his forehand, but I thought his backhand today was actually almost a better shot than his forehand. He was unbelievably aggressive, changing down the line. I was hitting full power, and off my full power he was changing down the line for winners.

These kind of things, you still learn about different kind of opponents. As I said, for me, he's a great player, and there is no reason why he shouldn't be up there.

Q. Talking about the other players in the tournament, we would like to know your idea about Jannik Sinner, because you have beat him in New York last September. Was an unbelievable match. Do you think he's ready to become No. 1 in this season?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, I think he sucks (laughter).

Look, he won the Australian Open, won Rotterdam, and he's what, 19-1 so far this year? I think if you have these kind of statistics, it's very logical that you're on the right path and you're on the way to be there, right?

Do I think that he's going to be as unbeatable as he is so far this year? I don't know. Because right now he's lost one match. It's unbelievable. It's like a statistic like Djokovic started in his best years. Federer started like this in his best years. Rafa started like this I think once in his career.

If he keeps it like that, then he's not only going to be No. 1 in the world, he's going to be No. 1 in the world for the next ten years. But it's up to him and it's also up to me, up to Carlos, up to Daniil, up to Novak as well to stop him from doing that.

Of course he's somebody that we now probably look out for, you know, one of two or three players that we look out for the most. We study him, we try to understand his game, we try to understand what can make him feel uncomfortable. And we'll see if we can use it.