AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2026

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/F. Cerundolo

6-2, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, well done. It's still early in the year, but was this your best match of 2026?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, I have only played six matches, so it's tough to tell, but I felt well on the court. Yeah, happy with the match, happy with the performance. Nothing really much to think about there.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I just wanted to ask about coaching. Obviously here they've got the boxes closer on the court. I just wonder how you find that and if you talk to your team before the match about what you want going into a match, be that tactically or how much you want them to be pumping you up and that sort of thing?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, I like it, because coaching is allowed for a couple of years now, and, you know, there is not much going on.

Of course, you're still playing the match yourself, but I think when you have the opportunity to just say a few words, it's better to say from there than scream it from a few rows behind. I like the seating orders here. I think it's quite a positive change. I think last year was the first time.

Yeah, I really don't mind it.

Q. In general, do you talk your team about what you want in the match, how much instruction, how much encouragement, that sort of thing?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Listen, my team is also my family who know me for 29 years now almost. I think they know me better than anyone. I like when the team is a bit more fired up, which sometimes isn't the case, but I think this week it's been quite good.

Before the matches, I think everybody has their own roles, as well, when it comes to tactic, when it comes to game plan and stuff like that.

Again, it's been 28 years, so I think we, by now, know what we want and what we don't want from each other.

Q. I imagine you saw the rather lopsided scoreline of Learner and Daniil. What did you think of that and how you size up Learner? He's a young player.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, Learner had success against Daniil before. I thought it was going to be, like, a tough match, like, battle, each set.

I mean, obviously I was playing the same time, so I didn't watch much of the match, so maybe you can tell me more, but I didn't expect it to be that one-sided, of course.

I don't know what happened, I don't know how the match went, whether Learner just played amazing, maybe Daniil was feeling the match before a little bit still?

I don't know. But I'm going to rewatch it for sure and see what happened there. But Learner is a great player. He's very, very young, up and coming. I have massive respect for him. He's very under the radar, also. He's the same age as some other young guys and they are talked about more, but I think he's the one that performs right now.

I have huge respect for him and the work he's doing.

Q. When you first made quarterfinals of a slam, I think it was 2018, you still had Roger, Rafa, Novak right at the top. Is it possible to compare how tough it was or it felt to win a slam at that age as it is now?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, back then, it's more complicated question because back then the slams were kind of set. Australia, Novak was winning. Roland Garros was kind of Rafa's slam to lose. Wimbledon it was always between Roger and Novak. There was not maybe as many openings. That does not mean that tennis is worse now. I think tennis got better. I think tennis got quicker, faster, more physical.

But I think, yeah, the players were kind of thinking that way where, you know, the first three years of the slams were set and the only one to play for was kind of the US Open maybe a little bit.

At the same time, the last two years all four majors were going to Sinner and Alcaraz all the time. Maybe it changes this year. I hope it changes this year, of course. But it's just different to compare and to think about.

I think, I mean, I talked about it a lot last year. I think the surfaces got much more similar to each other, where, you know, anybody can beat anyone on every surface, where back then it wasn't the case.

Yeah, I don't know. We'll see how the next few years play out. I think the last two years showed us that Carlos and Jannik are dominating. Maybe it's going to change.