The relaxed tone that Alexander Zverev had on the track at the Manolo Santana Stadium after his defeat against Carlos Alcaraz disappeared at the press conference. The German tennis player took advantage of the first question he was asked to load heavily against ATP. The times at which he has had to play this week have been the ones that have provoked his comments, and that is, for example, Zverev finished playing his semifinal against Tsitsipas at 01:00 in the morning. These were the words of the runner-up in Madrid.
Schedules: “The ATP job was an absolute disgrace this week. Two days ago I went to bed at 4:30 am. Yesterday I went to bed at 5:20 am. If a normal person goes to bed one night at 4:00 am and the next night at 5:00 am, it will be difficult for them to be active. And for me, to play a final against Carlos Alcaraz, who for me is the best player in the world right now, in a Masters 1,000, the next day, is difficult. I had no coordination on my serve, I had no coordination on my groundstrokes. I missed two spikes that were super easy because I saw the ball and everything was moving in my eyes.”
Sleeping more: “I don’t want to take anything away from him, even if I’m fresh, I probably wouldn’t beat Carlos, but it would definitely be a better game. If you stay up until 4:00 am the next day, you’re dead. Carlos is a great player. He’s the best in the world right now. But to be honest, I feel sad about the final we played, because this could have been a very good match. This could have been a great match. But it had absolutely no chance of being me. I had absolutely no chance to play at my level. This is not the first time this has happened. In Acapulco I played until 5:00am and was up until 8:30am. This happens weekly and to be honest, I’m a little tired”.
Solution: “Scheduling needs to be done better. Yesterday I started my match at 11:00 p.m. I played three sets. I finished at 1:30 a.m. Until I go back to the hotel, until I eat, until I do my work with the physio because I have to prepare my body for the next day, it’s 5:00 a.m. If you do it two nights in a row, you’re completely dead. You’re destroyed. You won’t be able to perform physical activity at a maximum level. And to play against Carlos Alcaraz in a Masters 1,000, in a final where he is playing the best tennis of his life, to be able to compete with him, you have to be at your best. You have to be above your level. But it is impossible if you go to bed at 5:00 in the morning “It’s just not possible. Everybody wanted to see a big fight. Everybody wanted to see some high-level tennis. But I’m also human. I’m not a robot. I can’t. I just can’t be on my level when this happens every nights. Nobody talks about it, you know. Everybody says: Yeah, it was a bad game, I double faulted, I didn’t play well and all that. But look what is happening the previous days. It’s not entirely fair, I think.”