"I'll be Daniil Medvedev's No. 1 fan... for a change", jokes Alexander Zverev as ATP Finals hopes rest on third seed

Alexander Zverev joked that he will be Daniil Medvedev's No. 1 fan during his clash with Carlos Alcaraz on Friday, November 17, at the 2023 ATP Finals, as he is reliant on the Russian player winning to secure a semi-final place.

World No. 7 Zverev is one of two players still in contention for a spot in the semi-finals of the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Both he and Alcaraz have won and lost one tie each, meaning that their fates will be decided by their last matches of the group stage.

Meanwhile, World No. 3 Medvedev has already confirmed his qualification to the semi-finals with two straight-set wins against Andrey Rublev and Zverev, while Rublev is already eliminated due to suffering two straight-set defeats, the second of which came against Alcaraz.

Zverev, who has won the ATP Finals twice before, is reliant on Medvedev defeating Alcaraz in their tie in order for him to progress to the semi-finals. However, he will also need to defeat Rublev in his own tie after this otherwise the Spaniard will still qualify instead of him.

Ahead of the deciding clashes, Zverev shared his thoughts and his mentality going into the crucial day: "On Friday I’ll be No. 1 Daniil Medvedev fan there is on this planet – for a change (smiling). We’ll see how it goes. As I said, it’s a little bit out of my hands. Of course, if Daniil wins, he’s playing very well, I think he does have a lot of chances to win. I have to be focused and be ready for 8:30 and be ready to beat Andrey (Rublev)."

He also opened up on his frustration after losing to Medvedev on Wednesday, November 15: "At the end of the day I kind of gave that set away a little bit, if we’re going to be honest. I was 4-1 up, had quite an easy volley where I kind of just misjudged the ball a little bit. I didn’t see it correctly maybe. I thought the ball was closer to me than it was. I just kind of dunked it in the net.

"In the second set obviously we were holding serve, comfortable in our serves. Maybe I was even more comfortable than him. Then, yeah, I think not winning the first point in the 5-4 game, that was crucial. It went his way. It’s frustrating because I think the tennis that I played maybe deserved more than losing in straight sets in a way," he continued.