Germany’s
Alexander Zverev has highlighted one reason
which played a big role in his defeat in the
French Open quarterfinal. The
28-year-old’s journey in the second Grand Slam of the year came to an end on Wednesday
as he lost to the former world number one Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak
Djokovic in the last-eight clash with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Talking after the match, Zverev highlighted that the
weather made it tough for him to find a solution against arguably the greatest
player of all time. The three-time Grand Slam runner-up stated that Djokovic
managed to ‘neutralise’ his serve, which made it tougher for him to dominate the
proceedings.
“I think it was also a bit the conditions,” said Zverev. “It
was very, very cold. So my serve speed was not very high. I think when the sun
completely went down, it was difficult for me to get through the court a little
bit. “It was difficult for me to find kind of ways to be dominant in the rally
because my serve was neutralized very well by him. Then also, I felt like my
groundstrokes, every time I tried to be aggressive, I was not really doing
much. It was difficult for me to find a solution in the cold conditions.”
Zverev then went on to discuss how impressive Djokovic has been on the court in recent years, despite turning 38. The reigning world
number three stated that in his opinion, the 24-time Grand Slam winner deserves
more respect than he is getting because of the emergence of young stars.
“Yeah I think at the moment he’s a bit underrated to be
honest,” he said. “Funny that you say that. I think a lot of people count him
out already. This year he’s had a win over Alcaraz at the Australian Open and a
win over me at the French Open. Forget the age, I think for any player those
are pretty good results. Of course I’d have to ask him how he feels physically
and how he will recover… if he’ll be 100% for the next match, because I do
think it was quite a physical match for both of us. But he’s still beating the
best of the best. I think everyone needs to respect that.”