INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 6, 2025

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: How does it feel for you to come back to Rome as the defending champion?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, it's always nice to come back knowing that you won a tournament. Yeah, I feel confident here. I really like the place, so I hope I can play as well as last year and win a lot of matches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Back to Madrid, is there anything you can take away from a match like that, the opponent that you were playing?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, that I hate playing him, to be honest (smiling).

I mean, I think outside of the top guys, like Jannik and Carlos, he's probably the most difficult for me to play. Haven't really figured out how to play him. Haven't really figured out a way to beat him, which shows on the record.

But all in all I thought my level of tennis was okay there. I thought I played three pretty good matches there. Also winning Munich the week before... I feel like my tennis is at the right spot right now.

Q. Does that play on your mind from the matches, playing him?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I know who's comfortable and who's uncomfortable for me. There's top guys, top 10 in the world, I'm not going to mention names, but who are very comfortable for me, for example. Then there are guys who are not top 10, maybe outside, who are less comfortable.

That's how it goes. It's why tennis is such an interesting sport. It's all about matchups, it is all about how somebody fits your game style. That's why the results are so unpredictable sometimes.

But all in all, my main focus is for the next two weeks.

Q. Looking back to the last three months, do you have more expectation of your results or level of playing?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, before Munich obviously my level of play wasn't great. There are reasons for it. I think not taking time off after Australia was a big reason for it. I felt like I burned out a little bit.

Tennis is a tough sport. We play a lot. We travel a lot. First of all, we don't give our bodies rest, but we also don't give our heads rest. They don't get mental rest. I needed that a little bit.

I'm on a good path. I won a tournament two weeks ago. I cannot forget that. And I have to focus on the positives.

Q. Getting back to the electronic line calling issue. We saw what happened in Madrid. You must be pleased that in Paris, at Roland Garros, they still have the lines-people.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: They still going to have that? Well, it screwed me last year (smiling).

Q. Can't win either way, I guess.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I can. I can win, but... Last year the chair umpire did screw me (smiling). It's just a fact.

To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte-Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. I think there was something wrong with the system in Madrid.

I just personally put that down to the Madrid tournament, right? I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of.

I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.

All in all, Monte-Carlo, Munich, it was working perfectly fine.

Q. Do you think there should be more wiggle room if there's something that is so glaringly wrong?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Look, the Madrid case, there was obviously a mistake there. It was not only the shot that Fokina hit. It's also the serve I hit. It was a game point. I went to the other side after that and I saw the mark. The mark was clearly out also.

Look, I don't know. I don't have the solution. Madrid definitely didn't work well, the system didn't work well. Then again, in Monaco and in Munich, the system worked better than humans would, right, because there was no mistakes at all the entire week.

Yeah, I don't know how to answer that question. It's not for me to decide. But when it's clear like that, then maybe the umpire should be able to come down from the chair. If we're talking about millimeters, then no. If we're talking about three, four, five centimeters, then maybe.

Q. People talk a lot about the No. 1 in the world. Everybody say it's a dream. It could be an obsession as well?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: World No. 1? It would be nice. I don't know. I have not been there. I believe I will. So we'll see how it goes.

I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich. All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there.

Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.

The ranking system doesn't lie. You get points for winning matches, you get points for winning titles. Yes, I know I didn't play up to my standard. I know I didn't play up to what I wanted to do. But neither did Carlos. Then he won Monte-Carlo.

There are periods in a player's career... Do you think Novak is happy with his results? Do you think Carlos is happy with his results? I'm not happy with my results.

At the end of the day in big matches, big moments, I still believe the top players will rise. And I still believe that I am going to find my tennis for the biggest tournaments.