THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 2, 2024

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/R. Carballes Baena

6-2, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Good win today. Just give us your thoughts on that.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, good match. Solid first round all in all. Happy with how I started the tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What are your thoughts about Andy Murray and his impact on the sport?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, look, he's obviously a great champion. I think outside of Novak, Rafa, and Roger, over the past 20 years, he's probably the one who has kind of moved a lot of fans towards tennis. Obviously what he's done for British tennis generally as well at Wimbledon is going to go down in the history books, for sure.

I don't know. He didn't say he's going to retire or anything like that, right? Everybody keeps on talking about it. Now I saw he's on the Olympic team. For me, I mean, he's not retiring right now, so...

Q. He said that he expected this to be his last Wimbledon. Now with him out of the singles, we'll see.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I don't know why I think we're going to be sitting here next year talking about the same thing for some reason. I believe that.

Q. What has impressed you most about him during his career?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think there's two parts to his career: preinjury and after injury. For me the after injury part is more impressive than the pre. The way he was fighting and showed passion for the sport, he really gained followers. He really gained the love of the crowd after the injury, just really showing how much he actually loves the sport, how much he appreciates being on the court.

For me that's the most impressive thing. Somebody who has won Grand Slams, was world No. 1, not everybody would have said, Okay, you know what, I'm going to accept that I'm going to be 30 or 40 in the world, but I'm going to do everything I can and going to fight for every single match, I'm going to fight for every single point, that I still can give to sport.

That for me deserves the most respect.

Q. Carlos Alcaraz, you've played him a lot, beaten him a lot, but what is the particular challenge of playing him compared to some of the other guys?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: With him, if you give him time, if you give him the option to dictate the points, you're not going to win a single point. That's what it is compared to others.

If you're just going to put the ball into the middle of the court and try to rally with him, you're going to lose 9 out of 10. That is what is the most impressive thing about him.

Every chance that he gets, he's going to take, and he's going to take the racquet out of your hands. That's why I think he was so successful at French Open this year because maybe conditions were a bit slower, maybe it's not as hot as the previous years. He had so much time to generate. He had so much time to dictate the points himself. When he does that, he's unplayable. Yeah, he's the best player in the world if he can do that.

Q. As the opponent knowing that, how hard is that pressure-wise?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Well, I mean, look, Federer was similar. My tactic against Federer always was hit the ball as hard as you can, doesn't really matter where you hit it, right?

Actually the times I played him, I was quite successful. I beat him quite a few times. It's similar against Carlos. Carlos, if you give him the chance to play, if you give him like slow balls or if you give him shorter balls, doesn't matter to the forehand or backhand, he's going to dictate the point so much. That's a very similar thing.

He also has things from Novak, things from Rafa, the high topspin balls, the sliding on any surface, that's Novak very much so.

Yeah, Carlos is somebody that can dictate the points like nobody else can in tennis right now.