MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 1, 2026

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/A. Blockx

6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, congrats on reaching another final here in Madrid. Just wanted to know what you're most pleased about today with your performance.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It was a good match. I think I had it under control from the start. And, yeah, he made it difficult in the second set, but I still had a lot of chances. I was confident that I was going to use some of those chances, and I did in the end. I'm happy about it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You won in Madrid twice before. For Jannik it's the first final here. So do you think your experience will give you an advantage on Sunday's final?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think he's world No. 1, and hasn't lost a match since beginning of February. I think right now he's definitely the best player in the world. I think I have to play very, very good tennis to have a chance. But I know I'm capable of doing that, and I will try to do my best on Sunday.

Q. We're sort of getting used to this pattern that you have where, on the clay, where you start out a little slow in Monte Carlo, but by the time you get to May you're really sort of rolling, whether it's Munich first or here. What is the adjustment like, and what is it specifically that you do, I guess probably off the ground more than the serve, that really sort of kicks in and gets you into the clay court season?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think it's just timing. It's a completely different timing of a ball than hard court. Once I adjust, I know I can play well on it, but it takes time for me. Somebody like Jannik or Carlos, maybe they play extremely well for the first week. Historically, you know, I've won all the Masters on clay except Monte Carlo. I reached the semifinals, never even the finals. So I think, yeah, I need more time than maybe some others.

But, yeah, right now at this moment I feel good. I'm in the final, I'm happy about that. And again, I'm going to give myself the best chance to win on Sunday. But I think, yeah, timing-wise, clay court is completely different to the hard court.

Q. I'm doing a story about the fathers who are coaches, because of Jodar. I would like to know, how is for you to work with your father? Was it easy?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: (Laughing). To be honest, yes, especially when I became an adult myself. I think he realized that separating being a father and separating being a tennis coach is very important. So when we are at home he's a father, of course. But when we are at tennis tournaments he's just my coach. He let's me do my own stuff outside of tennis. He let's me go on with my own business, which is very important, especially when you get older.

Again, I've been on tour for many, many years now and I know there's a lot of tennis parents, especially I feel like on the women's side, which try to control every single aspect of their kids' life. I do believe that that's wrong. I think this is where my father was very smart and is very smart. He lets me live my life. He lets me do whatever I want outside the tennis court. Then on the tennis court he's for me the best coach.

Q. Both the men's semifinals were quite identical today; the first set was quite dominant, and the second set was quite competitive, and both of them were against a very young and up-and-coming talent. What are your thoughts on that? My second question would be, in the second set I was noticing that every game had a break point opportunity, so it must have been frustrating, of course. How did you pull yourself through that frustration, and what helped you finally get that break?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I think, look, for your first part, I think there's a lot of young up-and-coming players that are very, very good and very, very high level. I think every week it shows more and more. We've been talking about Fonseca for quite awhile. He's a tremendous talent. I think now other guys are also showing up and having tremendous talent.

Like this week we saw Jodar have kind of a breakthrough. Alex had a breakthrough. So there's a lot of young guys who will have breakthroughs like that in the next month and years because I think the level of tennis they play is very high.

To your second part, I mean, yeah, I had one second serve on the break point. He served and volleyed for the first time, I didn't expect it. And everything else he was serving massive first serve. So this can happen. This is tennis. But, yeah, once I got the chance I used it in the second set and, yeah, luckily I served it out.

Q. What are your thoughts about AI in tennis?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: AI?

Q. It's being used in many, like teams, and in tennis as well.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: In what way AI?

Q. In analysis, in tracking performance, in many aspects. What are your thoughts?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I think, like a lot of other players, I look at some statistics, for sure, before matches. But I think a lot of it is, tennis is a feel sport as well. Against Jannik or against Carlos or against the best players in the world, no two matches are going to be the same. I know that, they know that. We are always going to adjust. We're always going to try to find ways to beat each other. So, yeah, that's, of course statistics help a little bit, but also I think they know that I know that there are those statistics, and for sure they're going to change some things. So, yeah, the same goes towards me. I will change my patterns against them.

Look, players have weaker points and players have stronger points. I think at the end of the day the best players are always going to win. In that case it was Jannik the last couple of months. And I think AI, there's a lot of stats on him, there's no secret how he plays, still nobody can beat him. So I think AI is going to only get you that far.