"I lost to Djokovic, not Hans Peter!" – Alexander Zverev fires back at Boris Becker for criticism following Roland Garros exit

Alexander Zverev has hit back at Boris Becker for his comments after his disappointing performance at the French Open. The 28-year-old suffered a defeat in the quarterfinal of the second Grand Slam of the year to Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

After that result, Zverev came under criticism from not only fans on social media but also from former players, including Becker. The former world number one, while speaking to TNT Sports, criticised Zverev for sticking with his father and brother in the coaching staff for far too long despite repeated failures at Grand Slams.

"You get the impression that he plays in the same rut against the top players and hopes that the result will be good," said Becker. "The father and brother did a great job, but it wasn't good enough for the last step."

Those words did not go down well with Zverev. The Hamburg-born player stated that he feels that when things are going wrong, everyone knows more than he does, including Becker. Zverev, who is now set to feature in the Stuttgart Open, also said that he does not have a bad feeling about losing to a player of Djokovic’s quality at the Roland Garros.

"I believe that when things are going well for me, I always do everything right,” he said. “And when things go badly for me, everyone is always very, very clever. Unfortunately, Boris is one of them. I lost to Djokovic, not to Hans Peter, who is ranked 250 in the world."

Talking about where he sees himself in men’s tennis, Zverev stated that he believes he is good enough to compete with the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. He also noted that he still has ‘massive respect’ for Becker, even though he might not agree with everything he says. "I still see myself as a candidate to compete against the two guys [Sinner and Alcaraz] up there," Zverev added. “I still have massive respect for him [Becker]. I will always listen to what he has to say, but I don't always have to agree."