"I know you have players that you love to hate on and players you love, so please just stop wasting my time then" - Zverev slams Tennis Channel for 'wasting his time'

Alexander Zverev is having a tough time of things on court, but this seems to be derailing off the court as well. He hit out at the Tennis Channel after he felt like his time was wasted in a video they posted in which he featured only twice.

The German is not afraid to state his case around any subject, and that includes the media; ranging from pundits, authorities and even fans. This is no different from the Tennis Channel's recent post.

They released a video testing tennis player's Roman numerals knowledge on their Instagram page. “American Numerals Challenge” with the caption “How many of these would you get right?” A number of notable names were casted for the quiz, including Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton and Learner Tien. WTA talents Iva Jovic, Victoria Mboko, Mirra Andreeva, Eva Lys and Hailey Baptiste were also involved.

Zverev featured twice. Once in the intro, and once more when the players were tasked of writing the number 10 in Roman numerals, which Zverev got the answer right. The task was linked to the tennis circuit currently being in the Italian capital competing in the Rome Open.

The world number three did not take well to barely featuring. “Just a random question Tennis Channel, why do I do all of these games and all these promotion activities with you guys but then every time I get something right I get cut out of every single one?” he wrote in their comments section.

“Just asking if you’re just interested in wasting my time or just hope that I can get something wrong so you can then put that in? I know you have players that you love to hate on and players you love, so please just stop wasting my time then. Thank you.”

Zverev came to Rome wanting vengeance. He breezed to the final in the Madrid Open for the fourth time before being utterly dismantled by the world number one Jannik Sinner, clinching just three games in a reality check.

He came to Rome having won the title twice, including as recently as 2024. He was on a run of five consecutive semi-finals at Masters 1000 level, and seven in his last eight. This run ends at Foro Italico, but it could have been so much different.

After comfortably winning the first set against Luciano Darderi 6-1, Zverev failed to take four match points in the tiebreak. Darderi snatched it up before bageling the three-time Grand Slam finalist to seal a spot in the quarter-final.

Zverev was very critical of the courts after, but will now turn his attention back home to the Hamburg Open. His clay swing will then end at the big one: Roland Garros. His ambitions of winning a maiden Grand Slam prolong, but the signs are not looking great based off recent form.