NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 6, 2025

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

K. KHACHANOV/A. Zverev

6-3, 4-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Questions, please.

Q. You have been saying this week that, in terms of your game, you have not been feeling at you best during this week, but still you have managed to come back and to get your best result in a Masters 1000 this year. Coming back, playing ugly, like Rafa told you, do you feel that after this good result, and after your visit to Mallorca, you're a different and a better player?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I'm trying. But, yeah, generally I think today also I didn't feel my best on the court, didn't play my best tennis. Also, the first set was terrible, so I kind of gave him a head start, and he's too good to not use that.

So, yeah, I still had match point, so it's upsetting that I lost this match. But that's the way it is, we move on, I go to Cincinnati and try to do better.

Q. Obviously the recovery from the first to the second and third, let's speak about the tiebreak. Would you like to have some of the balls you missed back, and did you feel that maybe he was a little bit more brave than you in those moments?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, I thought I was very brave in the tiebreak, I just missed. That's one thing that I wanted to change, it's one thing I wanted to work on. I feel like I was brave today in the tiebreak, it didn't work out, it's as simple as that.

As you said, I missed some balls that, yeah, I wish I wouldn't have missed, but that's the way it is. But as I said before, generally I wasn't feeling the ball well, so it's normal that you miss a little bit more than usual in these kind of situations. But that's okay, I mean, we move on. I have another chance in a few days time in Cincinnati.

Q. What do you make of this longer format of Masters 1000?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think I said everything about that.