LAVER CUP

September 20, 2025

Tim Henman

Alexander Zverev

Chase Center

Team Europe

Press Conference

A. De MINAUR/A. Zverev

6-1, 6-4

Team Europe - 3

Team World - 3

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, not quite the result you wanted. Do you want to just talk us through the match?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Just not a good match. Yeah, that's about it.

THE MODERATOR: Let's go to questions.

Q. You've obviously been on the winning end against him many times, but what does make him tough as a competitor? Obviously he's not going to overpower you, but he's going to switch things up. What worked well for him today?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I think today was more about more, to be very honest. I just started off extremely bad. I was 4-0 down within a couple of minutes, so the first set was gone very, very quickly.

Then the second set I was fighting, but I was just not playing well, just not playing well enough, just not doing enough to win this match.

Yeah, I think he played very solid. I think he returned well. I mean, I didn't hit many aces, but I still had a very high first-serve percentage. I just didn't play well enough from the baseline, I feel like.

Q. Sascha, how do you think these conditions suit your game? Alex said that they are slower and lower bouncing. Do you think that's part of the reason of why you didn't hit as many untouchables?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, it's tough to hit winners, for sure. The ball just doesn't rise up here so much. It's very slow, but I mean, I've played on this court before. It's not my first time.

I know how to win on this court, and I'm sure that I will not play this badly again if I will play, but you know, it is how it is now. I have to move forward and look forward.

Q. You've talked about your attempts to become more aggressive and the encouragement you've gotten from people like Rafa and others. How is that process going for you, would you say, and when you're practicing it sort of in real-time in a match like this, is it a little struggle at all in terms of your instinct versus people telling you what you should do or things like that? We can hear some of the things that Yannick and Tim are telling you on the side, and sort of they seem to be echoing that as well. How is that resonating with you in the matches?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, I didn't practice much the last few weeks. It's something I'm working on. I feel like in the U.S. swing it was something that was working well for me in Toronto and Cincinnati. Not so well in New York.

You know, it's a process, and it's a process with people that I have behind me as well.

Q. Again, tough one for you today. You've talked about your own execution. Did you feel he offered something different tactically than he had in your previous matches that led to your execution being off today, or was it just a matter of, to your point, a lack of practice of late and...

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think I was just not good enough today.

Q. Can you tell us why you haven't practiced much over the last few weeks?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I had some back issues, but nothing major.

Q. Are they resolved? Were you feeling fine out there?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I felt fine out there. I had two injections, so I just needed time off.

Q. You may not want to answer this question, but I'm going to ask it, in any case. We know tennis is year after year such a grind, so tough mentally. Then you gave that incredible press conference in London where you really opened up, touched a lot of people in a good way. Then you spoke about going off with family, vacationing. At the US Open you said you're making progress, you're working with professionals. Can you just give us an update? Are things going okay? Are you making progress?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I feel fine. I feel fine. I feel fine on the court. I feel fine in life. I feel much better than after Wimbledon. Even though I lost today, I'm okay.