AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 26, 2025

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

J. SINNER/A. Zverev

6-3, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, tough luck. Extremely hard right now. The second set was obviously key, and you had that let cord. Talk us through what went through your mind at that stage.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, unlucky moment for me. In general, Jannik is better than me at the moment. It's as simple as that.

I think I served better than Jannik, and everything else he does better. So at the end of the day he deserves to win. He's the best player on hard courts right now. It's as simple as that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. On court you said, I don't know whether I'll be able to lift the trophy. There seems to be a bit of a shift from some of your previous statements. Do you feel there's been any change in your perspective in that regard?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think it's very difficult to give an on court speech after you lose a Grand Slam final.

I'm doing everything I can. I'm working as hard as I ever did. I think I'm doing all the right things off-court. I think I'm practicing the right things, but I lost in straight sets today. I mean, those are facts. That is a fact. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today.

I mean, I don't want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam, that's for sure. I'll keep doing everything I can to lift one of those trophies.

Q. How do you compare this to other times you've played Jannik in terms of where his level is, how you measure yourself against that?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, today he completely outplayed me. From the back of the court, completely outplayed me. As I said, I'm serving better than him, but that's it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me.

At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, like massive factors, and he does four or five of them better than me. That's the reason why he won. He deserved to win today.

Q. Before your speech someone shouted out, Australia believes Olya and Brenda. What is your reaction to that? What is your response to people who believe the domestic violence accusations against you?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I believe there are no more accusations. There haven't been for, what, nine months now. Good for her. I think she was the only one in the stadium who believed anything in that moment. If that's the case, good for her.

I think I've done everything I can, and I'm not about to open that subject again.

Q. You played obviously all the big four at their best. You played Carlos and Jannik at their best. Where do you think Jannik compares to, say, Novak or Rafa?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: He's very, very similar to Novak when he was at his best. They barely miss, like barely miss. They make you think like you have to overhit all the time to have a chance in a rally against them.

It's very, very difficult to win a point from the back of the court against them, against Novak and him. Move obviously tremendous. They're constantly on the baseline. They don't give you any space. They don't give you any time. Yeah, I mean, just right now too good for me.

Again, I'll do everything I can to be able to compete with them and to lift the trophy, but today was nowhere near good enough.

Q. On Sinner's game, how far do you think the gap is between his game at the moment and the rest of the players inside the top 10?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: On hard courts?

Q. Yes.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, by far the best. I mean, the facts speak for themselves. He's won all the Grand Slams on hard courts since last year. He's lost, I think, three matches on hard courts, right? Three, four, something like that. I'm not sure, but somewhere around that.

I mean, I think the facts speak for themselves. He's in a different universe right now to anyone else.

Q. When you come out onto the court, obviously it's exciting, you have it all ahead of you. How soon were you concerned about your own form in the match today?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I felt like I could win the second set. I felt like that was a massive point. I think whoever wins that set, kind of can get a little bit of momentum. Being down two sets to love, especially then his confidence goes up, mine goes down. It's a long way back then against someone like Jannik.

If it's one set all, yeah, maybe I have a chance. But two sets to love... I didn't stop fighting. I didn't stop believing. Then in the third set I thought he outplayed me more than in the other sets.

Q. You talk about how dominant Jannik is. How strange is it then that he could kind of get a lengthy ban? How much does that create uncertainty amongst the rest of the players?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Wow, I didn't expect that question.

I don't know. I don't know anything about the situation that he's in. I know he's been cleared once. I know someone over the Tennis Integrity Unit is taking a look at it now.

Yeah, I mean, he's a great guy. I have absolutely nothing against him. I don't know what will happen, but let's see in the next few months.

I didn't expect this question, so I don't really know how to answer it, to be very honest.

Q. It looked like before the trophy ceremony, he put his hands on your shoulders and said something encouraging. Can you share what the conversation was?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, I was quite down. I was quite emotional also in that stage. I think he saw that. He said that I will definitely lift one of those trophies in my career. I'm too good not to. That's his words.

Yeah, it was a little bit of a tough moment for me because I really went in the final and also the preparation today, I really thought I had a very good chance because I was feeling good. I was feeling the ball quite well. I was feeling like I can compete, yeah.

So it was just a difficult moment for me. I mean, now for the third time, seeing somebody lift the trophy, me standing next to that is difficult because there's nothing more I want than to be able to hold one of those trophies in my hands.

Q. You beat him in 2021 US Open, 2023 US Open on the hard court, Grand Slam. What is he doing differently that he run away so much from other players?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: He serves better. He returns better. He hits his forehand better. He hits his backhand better. He moves better. He volleys better. I mean, there's nothing that he doesn't do better right now.

I remember those matches. Before I always felt like once I was getting on top of the rally, I was winning most of those rallies. Yeah, now it's like he's prime Novak. It's so difficult to go through him.

So yeah, I think he's just all around a much better tennis player than he was back then.