ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2026

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/J. Mensik

7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, congratulations. How proud are you of the way you managed such a difficult opponent today?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, good. I thought, yeah, today definitely was the most difficult match. He's been playing fantastic tennis. I mean, the way he beat the other players was incredible.

Yeah, even when there was some difficult moments when I lost the third set, I feel like I managed well. I came back and played some good tennis, so I'm happy about that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Well done.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Thank you.

Q. Probably happier to congratulate you tonight than I would on Sunday, but what do you expect with Cobolli, because he's a friend of yours. He just told us that he has a great relationship with you, that sometimes you've been talking, not just about tennis, but also films and everything else. He has beaten you once. So what do you expect? Tonight you served 75% of first serve. Not too bad.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I will serve 76 on Sunday (smiling). No, look, he's a great player, great guy. I like him. I like his dad a lot. Two, for me, very, very good people, just generally.

I look forward to playing him in the final. Of course, it's his first final, so I'm happy for him that he reached it.

But, yeah, the only thing I can control is that I play good tennis. I mean, I will try to show my level. I will try to do the right things. Yeah, that's the only thing that matters to me.

Q. About your second serve, you hit it hard, you win two out of three points, and behind your second serve, which is a lot. Can you talk a bit about this shot and how you managed to improve it in the past years?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I don't know, it's a shot I was struggling with, for sure, in the past, but I think it's a shot that I probably practiced the most out of any tennis shot that I do.

Yeah, I don't think about it so much anymore. When I stand there, I decide what I want to do, and I just do it kind of in a way. I hope it continues working that way.

But, yeah, it's definitely a shot that I spend a lot of years on to improve.

Q. There was that period in the third set where Jakub left the court, came back, and then started playing at a really high level to take the third set. Just wondered kind of how you stayed calm in that period? Did you just kind of trust that if you kept playing at the level you were playing at, that would be enough?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, the third set he started playing a lot better, for sure. But I lost the set or got broken because I missed a couple of shots. I missed a couple of forehands. I missed a couple of first serves.

I still felt like I was mostly in control and that if I get back to having chances and if I use them once or twice, I will get back into the match and be the winner in the end.

That's all I told myself. A five-set match is long. That you lose one service game, it can happen, it's normal. I just need to focus on my game again and, yeah, just finish the match off strong.

Q. Just wanted to get your reaction on Flavio not having to play his semifinal. Do you think that could potentially have any affect on Sunday, the fact that he's had an extra day off?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Not really, because I feel fine. I didn't have brutally long matches. I honestly feel like I could play again now (smiling), so not really.

I think it's not the way that you want a semifinal of a Grand Slam to happen, but I also saw Matteo in the locker room, and he looked awful. I understand it. There's nothing much he can do.

Things like that happen. We're all human. We don't wish for them to happen, but they do. I don't think that it's going to be a big difference on Sunday.

Q. It's been a long time since you played someone not Jannik and not Carlos in a Grand Slam final. I'm curious, what do you remember from 2020? Were you thinking you were a favorite when you were going into that match against Domi? How do you compare yourself to the sort of person and player you were then and who you are now?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think it's difficult to compare.

No, I did not see myself as a favorite. I didn't see anyone as a favorite, to be honest.

But that was exactly the time when I had real struggles with my serve and my second serve. I knew that my serve could can break down at any moment. That's one difference that I do feel now, luckily for me.

Yeah, I was up 2 sets to love. I was a break up. I was serving for the match, and it didn't happen. That's in the past, and I don't try to think too much about it before Sunday.

Q. I wonder whether you could tell us a bit more about the journey you went through since your last slam final and how much you kept the belief that you could come back all the way back up there?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I mean, it's not been, like, that long. It was last year, so it's not like a very, very long period of time.

Throughout most of the time I was either No. 2 or No. 3 in the world (laughing). So I do feel like I can get back to those stages, and I do feel like I will get back to the stages throughout the entire period.

I didn't play well last year. I was not playing the best tennis last year, but I felt like I was going to find it again.

Yeah, of course, I'm happy to be back at this stage.

Q. Flavio before joking, he said that you tell him, Okay, remember, we are friends before the finals. How difficult is it to play against one that you like, and what do you like the most in Flavio, as a person?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think when you play a Grand Slam final, it's not that difficult, because it means you reached the best stage in tennis. You reached the latest stage in tennis, and it's nice to share it, for sure.

Of course, you still try to beat each other, and you still try to win, but that's okay.

For me, he's just a nice person. He has a good heart. He is extremely funny if you get to know him. I like his father, who is also extremely funny.

Yeah, he's a good guy.

Q. Again on your friendship with Flavio, you guys belong to different tennis generations. There's an age gap between you and Flavio. I wonder, what's the common ground? What do you guys have common to be such good friends?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: We got closer at the Laver Cup in 2024 in Berlin. That's when we first got close.

Then sometimes when there was difficult moments, his father used to come up to me, and he would ask me questions. He would ask my father questions also about tennis, about different things. I was always very happy to talk to him.

So I think that's when it started. With some people it just continues naturally, and it does with Flavio.