First Ball Forehand

Alexander Zverev aims now to win the ATP Finals

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Alexander Zverev swept away the hopes of Frenchman Ugo Humbert, idol of the Bercy crowd, to win the Paris Rolex Masters with the final score of 6-2 6-2. A title (his 7th ATP Masters 1000 of his career) that follows the reconquest of the 2nd position in the ATP ranking and a place as one of the favorites to win the ATP Finals.

At the press conference, the German revealed his goals for the upcoming year-end Masters, last tennis event of the season ahead the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga:

“I’m obviously very happy about that. And above all I think that today, in the final, I played a good match. I think it was solid from start to finish. I’m looking forward to one last tournament, in Turin, this year. I hope I can finish the season on a high note. I think the goals are quite obvious for everyone. For me, at the moment, it’s about improving my game. And I’ll let the results come to me. I can’t force the results. I didn’t come here this week thinking: I definitely want to win this tournament. I think the last loss was just when I came back on tour, in the Davis Cup against Switzerland. So I could have lost to anyone. For me, lefties are maybe more natural than for others, because I grew up with my brother, who is lefty, and so I only trained with him when I was young. So, for me, topspin, slice serves and everything else are maybe more familiar,” he explained.

Now for Zverev there are the ATP Finals in Turin, a tournament that the current ATP number 2 has won twice in his career: “In Turin everyone will be motivated. It’s such a special tournament. There’s a special atmosphere and feeling when you’re there and there are only eight players in the world. Everyone wants to win this title and play good tennis. In the last tournaments of the season, which are normal tournaments, maybe some players are a little more tired, maybe they lack a little motivation, but in Turin it will be different.”

Answering a specific question about what is more important, winning a Major or becoming ATP No. 1 for the first time in his career, the German analyzed: “That’s a very good question. I honestly think that in tennis these days the two things go hand in hand. I think it’s very difficult to be world No. 1 without winning a Slam. I had the chance to become it in 2022 if I hadn’t gotten injured. Obviously Novak didn’t play many events because he wasn’t vaccinated. Rafa started the year very strong and got injured. Medvedev also got injured. He had back surgery that year. It was a strange year. It was like everyone wasn’t in top form for all the tournaments. But now everyone is in top form, so to become world No. 1 you have to win the Grand Slams. Now I’m world No. 2, but I’m 3,000 points away from Jannik, maybe even more. So it will be essential to win a Major.”

Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev© Rolex Paris Masters/Instagram – Fair Use

 

Humbert, defeated by the German in the Paris-Bercy final, played a match below expectations, being overwhelmed by his opponent’s tennis. Despite the defeat, the Frenchman said he was proud of the path he had in the home tournament, explaining at the press conference that he had not been able to recover physically after the tough match won in the semifinal against Karen Khachanov the previous day.

“He was stronger than me in every aspect. I was not able to recover enough after yesterday’s match, but I congratulate Zverev. He was better than me in every aspect of the game. Physically it was tough for me today. The battle against Khachanov had an impact. Physically, when I woke up, it was really difficult. I was tired, but I accepted the situation. Even mentally I felt less present. It was tough. I tried until the end to be true to myself, to my values, to fight until the end. With this crowd I tried. He only missed two points. I believed in it, but in the end the score turned out to be quite heavy for me,” he explained.

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