German Alexander Zverev, the top seed at the Madrid Masters 1000, who has won twice, showed his appreciation for the tournament held at the Caja Magica and downplayed the incident he suffered last week with a fan at the Munich tournament.
The Hamburg player, ranked second in the ATP rankings, was heckled by a spectator last Friday in the quarter-final match of the Munich Open. Zverev even asked the chair umpire in the match against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor to expel the fan, who reminded the tennis player of accusations of abuse against a former girlfriend for which he was tried in the past, a case that was dismissed.
“It’s okay. In Munich the crowd was amazing. I said it before: in the quarter-final match against Griekspoor I was mentally disconnected and the crowd was the one who helped me to recover. I won the match thanks to the crowd, so I can’t complain at all,” he said.
I won the match thanks to the crowd, so I can’t complain at all
“But hey, there will always be one or two idiots everywhere. It happens in every sport like this. You have it in football, in racing, in tennis, anywhere else. It’s like that, that’s sport. But for me, the crowd was amazing in Munich,” added Zverev, who won that tournament last Sunday.“
“Finally I played good tennis and winning a tournament always gives you confidence. I wasn’t quite sure before Munich. I hadn’t played my best, but I’m very happy with the win and going forward I hope I can keep playing good tennis,” Zverev said.
Alexander Zverev arrives in Madrid full of expectations and with good memories of the past. Two titles and a final in his journey through the Caja Magica.
Madrid is one of my favourite tournaments. It’s my favourite court, the centre court, I’ve only lost twice in my whole life here
“The first thing that comes to mind when I arrive in Madrid is that I will feel good on the tennis court. It’s one of my favorite tournaments. It’s my favorite court, the center court, I’ve only lost twice in my whole life here, so it’s a special place for me. It’s also a place where I’ve had a lot of success, which helps,” he said.
“I hope I can continue this year as I have the last few years, winning big matches and going deep in the tournament. So that’s certainly something that helps me when I come to Madrid,” recalled the world number two.
The sanction to Jannik Sinner left the possibility that the number one in the world would change hands and go to Zverev or Carlos Alcaraz. This did not mean that this option was an added pressure for the German.
“I was just playing badly. I think I said it before: Australia affected me, and there were a lot of things that, in my opinion, made me think I wasn’t playing well. I’ve got over it. I won a tournament last week. Winning tournaments, especially tournaments of that level, you don’t win them by playing badly,” he said.“
“I’m happy to have won. Confidence certainly increases after winning a tournament like this. Yes, looking ahead, I hope, as I said, to be able to continue on the same path, keep improving and keep trying to win,” he added.
I’m happy to have won. Confidence certainly increases after winning a tournament like this
“It’s been a few months now. We have this tournament in Madrid and then Rome and then we’re going to Roland Garros,” Zverev said. “I can’t think too much about Australia anymore, I have to think about the next three weeks.”
About anti-doping controls
He also lamented the situation that players face with doping tests: “It’s an annoying process because we have to be in a certain place every day, give details of where we’re going to be for about an hour a day. But at the same time, if they don’t arrive at the time we gave them, you still have to go back.”
“It happened to me at the end of last year, around December, when I was picking up my daughter at Nice airport, and then, in the doping control, my turn was at seven or eight and they arrived at nine,” he said.
“I was called and told I had to come back and I told them I couldn’t because I had to pick up a three-year-old girl. And they told me that I had to come back no matter what. That’s the most annoying thing, because it’s like they’re taking away my freedom to live a little bit. Well, if you want to come in less than an hour, that’s fine, because that’s the rule. But after that, you have to give us the freedom to live,” he stressed.
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