ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 2, 2024

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/H. Rune

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congratulations for your win. Just out of curiosity, after the match, you go always to practice. You are not enough tired?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, it's not about that (smiling). I answered that yesterday. For me, it's about improving a few things. I feel like, you know, Jannik and Carlos, you know, they are doing a few things better than me at the moment. I want to improve.

I want to improve not for tomorrow, not for today or, you know, because of the matches I played here. I want to generally improve for next year as well.

That's the reason I do take this as a lot of practice here in this week, and I want to improve my game for next year, as well.

Q. Sascha, when you say Jannik and Carlos are doing things better than you...

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Some things, yeah.

Q. Some things. What are you most concerned about? Which aspects do you feel you've really got to hone in on?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: "Concerned," I don't know. But I feel like they are so aggressive. I think tennis is going towards that direction.

I think when they get an easy ball, when they're in an attacking position, 90% of the time the point is over, whether it's a winner or an unforced error. That's how hard they hit the ball, that's how aggressive they are. I think in that aspect I can improve. That's what I'm trying to do.

Q. You're not bound to meet any of them anytime soon on the tour. Are you a little concerned that perhaps you're putting too much pressure on yourself with this very intense practice schedule?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No.

Q. No?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No. I think in tennis you always have to improve. If you're standing still, you're going to go backwards because the other players are also improving.

Jannik has improved a lot this year. There are some things Carlos has improved, as well. I think Novak, over the past 15, 20 years, has improved every single year.

If you ask him whether he's a better tennis player last year, let's say 2023 or 2022 even, or, you know, 10 years ago when he was younger, I think he would say that he's a better tennis player now, you know.

I think that's because everybody tries to improve. If you're not improving, you're standing still. You know, I want to achieve my biggest goals still. For that, I know I have to get better, because for now it has not been good enough.

Q. The match is not over, but in case Ugo Humbert wins the game, can you say a few words about him, the player he is? What would it be for you to play him again after the great match you played last year together?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, he's an aggressive player, somebody who goes for his shots, for sure. As you said, the match is not over yet, and for me, Karen has been playing great tennis the last few weeks. We have to first see who is going to be the winner of that match.

Q. You're going to be No. 2 in the world next week. Does it have a special meaning?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It's nice, for sure. It's nice to be back at the highest position that I have been so far. Of course I want to get higher, but for me still Jannik has the best year this season, for sure, and then Carlos had the second-best year. He won two Grand Slams.

I know that I'm ahead of him in the rankings maybe, but for me he won Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Those are two massive titles. So they are still the two best players in the world, in my opinion, at the moment.

Q. I guess it's hard to compare, but how would you assess your level now compared to the player you were just before you made your injury two years ago? Is it the best version of Sascha Zverev today? Are you surprised to have been back so fast at the top?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I hope so. I hope it's the best version. That period I feel like in 2021 there was maybe a little bit of a change coming up, a little bit, because, you know, the big titles, especially in the end of the year in 2021 were kind of shared between Novak, Daniil, and myself.

You know, Novak won Wimbledon, Daniil won US Open, I won Olympics and the World Tour Finals. There was a period where it was kind of moving towards the direction of maybe a little bit of a change, and then 2022 I felt like I was going a very good direction at Roland Garros, I was going, you know, hopefully to achieve my dream of winning Roland Garros. I was No. 2 in the world. I was very close to becoming World No. 1, as well.

It was going in that direction, and then obviously there was a two-year stop to that process. You know, there was two years where I was not competitive for Grand Slams, not competitive for World No. 1 and those kind of things.

So I'm happy to be back where I am, for sure, because there was never a guarantee that I would be back at this level. So for sure for me it's a great satisfaction to be back, but again, I want to improve and I want to go even higher.

Q. There is a lot of talk to you about improving and adding to your game. If you're to look at a percentage-wise, how much more percentage-wise do you think you can improve? As part of that, do you still set goals for yourself on, let's say, on an annual basis?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: For me, my biggest goal right now is to improve the things that I think I'm worse than the other guys are at. That is my goal until the Australian Open. That's why, yes, I'm in the final here, I'm extremely happy about that, I'm extremely happy with how I'm playing, as well, but again, this is not my main focus right now.

Of course I'm in a Masters 1000 final. It's a huge thing for me. It's big. It's big for any player. It's a privilege to be in these kind of situations.

But me and my team, me and my coaching staff, me and my physical trainer, we have set a goal that we want to improve on things until, you know, for next season. This is our main focus. This is our vision that we want to do.

That, for me, is the only goal that I have at the moment.