Alexander Zverev is the only one with Stefanos Tsitsipas, among the big guns, to have “survived” in the main draw of the Rome tournament. The Italian Internationals, already affected from the start by the heavy absences of Jannik Sinner and of Carlos Alcaraz at the men’s level, they saw the Serbian leave the scene Novak Djokovicof the Russians Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov and Danish Holger Rune.
The German, therefore, has a great chance of winning the tournament again as happened in 2018. Event at the Foro Italico with a different format, spread over several days, to give you the opportunity to recover. A novelty which, however, Zverev did not comment on in the press conference in such a favorable manner for the top tennis players.
“I think the extension is great for players ranked 60th to 100th because they have the opportunity to be in the main draw of a Masters1000. But this expanded schedule isn’t good for the top 10 and players who go far in tournaments on a weekly basis. Sure, we have a day of “break” from one game to another, but in the end, for us, rest is when we are at home, with our family and sleeping in our bed. This is rest. When you play a match and don’t play the next day, it doesn’t mean you have a day off because you’re still training and following your routine. I don’t think it’s something that many players like“, Zverev said.
The German then clarified his point of view regarding an age-old question, linked to the comparison between his own generation and that of Alcaraz and Sinner, in relation to the Big Three (Djokovic, Federer and Nadal): “I think that in Paris there will be all the best. I come from three consecutive semi-finals, one of which ended in hospital. Obviously it’s an important tournament in my calendar and I want to win it. Our generation, me, Daniil (Medvedev ed.), Stefanos (Tsitsipas, ed.) are all great players. The most important difference between us and the young players is that in our first years on the circuit we had to face Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, a difficult challenge in tennis. But we still managed to beat them. Medvedev beat Novak in the final of a Slam, I beat him in the semi-final of the Olympics and I played great matches against Rafa“.
