US OPEN

August 22, 2025

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

An interview with:

ALEXANDER ZVEREV

THE MODERATOR: Welcome. If you would, your thoughts as you get ready for this year's US Open.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Feeling good. Yeah, feeling good. I had a good practice week. I think everybody is ready to kind of get going now in the tournament. I think I had two positive tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati where, you know, my level has kind of been improving with every match, until I didn't feel so well in the semis against Carlos.

But all in all, positive in my mind and looking forward to this year's US Open.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You have had a star-crossed time of things in New York. You made your first Grand Slam final here, but the world was in the middle of COVID and no fans. The match itself with Dominic, being so close. You made quarterfinals last four times you have played here but not in 2022 because of injury. Last year you were your angriest after a match after you lost to Taylor Fritz. How would you describe your US Open New York experience in your career, given, like, those highs of your first major, and those near misses?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: For me, right now at this stage where I am, it doesn't matter. I think I'm looking for the last step, right? I'm looking to lift, you know, one of those above my head once. That's what I'm looking for.

I know that this season has been difficult for me at times. I made the finals of Australian Open and then I had a stretch where I wasn't playing my best, not really great mentally. Very frustrated with myself. I was not happy on the tennis court. Now I feel like it's going in the right direction again.

So for me, it's about going the final step. I love playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium. I think it's one of the most beautiful stadiums in the entire world. Biggest stadium for us in tennis.

I have had tough battles here, like you just mentioned against Dominic in the final where I should have won the final with how it went down, but I didn't.

I had an incredible battle with Novak in the semis where he won three majors before that, and he was going for the Grand Slam, calendar Grand Slam. So I have had great matches here.

It's about winning the last point in those for me. I'm very hopeful I can do that this year.

Q. This tournament, men's side has been the most unpredictable. 2008 was the last time someone retained it on the men's side. Why do you think it is the least predictable?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Calendar, for me, last of the year. Maybe players are more fatigued, maybe mentally also fatigued. Schedule has not been getting lighter. Masters events and all that, two weeks. Maybe that's the biggest reason.

I think if you look at the Masters events, the most unpredictable tournament is Paris Bercy, the last Masters event of the year. I think that has the biggest role to do with it. Just schedule-wise.

The conditions here, if you're playing on the big courts, conditions are perfect. No wind on the court. You feel like it's an indoor tournament if you're playing on Ashe and Armstrong.

It's definitely not the conditions. It's the last one. I think that's the biggest reason.

Q. At Wimbledon you gave one of the most incredible press conferences I had ever heard where you were so courageous, having hit rock bottom. You said that you were going to try and find ways to get out of that hole. How's it going? Feeling the same?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Oh, I'm feeling a lot better. After Wimbledon, I said that a few times. Put my racquet down and took extended time off and I went on holidays with my friends where I didn't train, didn't play tennis, didn't do anything to what I usually do.

I think some of you probably know that even after the tournament finishes, the next day or the day after I'm in the gym, I'm working out.

And I didn't do that. I went and had some time off. Spent a lot of time with my friends. Got professional help also, which I'm still working with now. Yeah, I'm on the right path.

I really enjoyed the last two tournaments. I really enjoyed being back on the tennis court. I think also when I'm joyful on a tennis court and happy on the tennis court, I feel like you can see that a lot of times with my game and how I play and whether I show emotions or not, whether I'm more quiet. That's usually not a good sign for me.

So, yeah, I feel like everything is going in the right direction, and I'm very happy to be here right now.

Q. Help feels good?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, definitely feels good. It's a process. It's not over within one or two weeks. I think it's something that you need to work through for multiple years and for multiple past years of your life. That's what I'm doing.

Q. You knew what it was like to see Federer, Nadal, Djokovic in the draw all the time. And now of course it's Carlos and it's Jannik. What is it like when Carlos and Jannik are in the draw?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It sucks. It's terrible (smiling).

No, it's fine, because I actually said that outside on the TV interview just now. Tennis is always going to produce new superstars. When Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi retired, the question was, What now? The men's game is in trouble. Who's going to be the next guy? All of a sudden Roger appears, Rafa appears, Novak appears.

In tennis, you will always have superstars. When the old superstars retire, new superstars will launch to the top of the game. That's what happened here.

Roger, Rafa retired. Novak is still here, of course. He's still a force to be reckoned with. We have new superstars in Carlos and Jannik. That's a good thing. I'm happy for the sport. We need that.

I think the attendance in Grand Slams in the last few years has been an all-time high. How many people watch tennis on TV, all-time high. It's great to see interest is growing.

If I can be a small part about that, I'm very happy about that.

Q. You spoke about how great it is for the sport, but you began with...

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, but I'm joking.

Q. I understand. But in terms of trying to surmount that obstacle, knowing those guys are there, how does that affect your thinking as you advance in the tournament?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It doesn't. I would be more than happy to play Jannik in the semis and Carlos in the finals here, you know. I would be very, very happy to do that.

If I achieve my dream, if I achieve the goal that I set for myself in lifting the trophy above my head, then I know that I really deserve it, because I went through the most difficult path that there can be at the moment. So that's totally fine.

I want to win a Grand Slam and I want to win the biggest tournaments in the world by beating the best players in the world.

Of course, if all of a sudden they lose first round and second round and I'm playing, I don't know, the world No. 50 in the final, I will sign that paper right now, don't get me wrong.

But still, if you beat the best players in the world to win a Grand Slam, you deserve it. That's my mindset, and that's how I think about things.

Q. At this point in your career, you have improved so much, worked so hard on specific parts of your game. Curious where you see that improvement coming next and how much improvement is realistic to expect? What do you expect from yourself at this point?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I think there are certain parts of my game that still are worse than from other players. I'm not going to mention them now, but I think there are certain parts of my game that Carlos and Jannik are doing better than me. They are showing parts of my game that I'm doing better than them, also.

It's about also finding ways to beat the best players in the world, right? It's about finding the right patterns, the right training to do that.

That's why I went to see Uncle Toni and Rafa, because I wanted to see and then hear a new vision of what tennis in their mind looks like and how my tennis in their mind looks like.

Rafa, for example, he played against me for ten years. So now, as a spectator and also as an opponent, he can probably give you the best advice anybody else can, because he knows what it's like to be on the court with me.

You know, it was exactly that what I'm looking for, right? I'm looking forward in those two weeks that we have now to beat everybody, or beat seven players in front of me. I don't need to beat everybody, just the seven guys in front of me.

I think in tennis everybody can always improve. It's as simple as that.

Q. You mentioned it's been a difficult year for you. Some of your peers, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, have kind of had ranking-wise tougher years. Do we underestimate from the outside how hard it is to stay at that top level? Do you feel you need to keep evolving and changing your game? How does that work?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think sometimes we forget that life continues happening also, right? There are certain things outside the tennis court that happen in person's lives. My life is very, very different than what it was five years ago. You know what I mean? Daniil is a two-time father now. So that goes also into your tennis.

My life, when I come home from a tournament, is also very, very different, because I need to take care also of my daughter sometimes and those things.

So it's about, you know, evolving, you know, taking life into consideration, into your tennis as well. Training maybe a bit different as you get older, doing different things as you get older. Sometimes you have a rough patch. I had a rough patch when four, five years ago I couldn't put a second serve in on this planet, in the stadium. Maybe that's what's happening to them right now.

I'm sure when they get out of it, they will be top 10 again because they are just that good. Daniil and Stefanos, they are very good tennis players. Especially Daniil, he will be back to where he was, you know, 18 to 24 months ago. But he needs to, yeah, he needs to figure out how to handle the new situation that he's in.