ATP Masters Paris-Bercy: Alexander Zverev - "I'm just trying to be a better tennis player"
Alexander Zverev is in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy after a three-sentence battle against Adrian Mannarino . Afterwards, the German was satisfied with the development of his game - although he still sees room for improvement.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Nov 06, 2020, 02:09 am
It couldn't be much better for Alexander Zverev on the tennis court at the moment: After his two tournament victories in Cologne, the 23-year-old is already back in the quarter-finals at the Paris-Bercy tournament. On the way there, the native of Hamburg had to fight really hard in the round of the last 16.
After exactly three hours the 7: 6 (11), 6: 7 (7) and 6: 4 success against Adrian Mannarino was certain. "It's always a difficult match against Adrian. I know he's a great player," said Zverev after the win. Unlike at the start against Miomir Kecmanovic, the German acted wait and see against Mannarino, sometimes passively - a conscious stylistic device, as he emphasized in the press conference.
Serve as a decisive difference
"At some point I tried to play as slowly as possible. It handles the power very well, especially on fast surfaces. I tried using the slice and then playing with more topspin again. I wanted to break his rhythm somehow. Because if he gets it, it's very difficult against him. He hardly makes any more mistakes, "said Zverev.
Mannarino himself attributed Zverev's success mainly to one stroke: the serve. "I always think that I have to put pressure on him with my return, but at the moment he's just serving too well for me. He didn't give me a chance in the third set," said the Frenchman.
In the third round, Zverev only gave his counterpart six points on his own serve. The world number seventh was particularly satisfied with the second service (only one double fault in the entire game): "Hopefully it will remain so that I control the serve well. I worked a lot on the service during the six-month break. I think you can see that now. I hope that this continues to develop well and gets even better. "
Wawrinka still without a win against Zverev
The service should be subjected to an even greater test in the quarterfinals. With Stan Wawrinka, a player awaits Zverev who coped very well with Andrey Rublev's equally powerful serve in the round of 16 and thus ended the young Russian's successful run . In head to head, however, Zverev leads 3-0.
"I've lost a couple of games against him in the past. It's difficult for me to play against him," admitted Wawrinka after beating Rublev. "Hopefully I can have a great match."
Naturally, something that Alexander Zverev has also taken on. But regardless of the performance in Paris-Bercy, the 23-year-old sees himself on the right track, as he had already emphasized after the success against Kecmanovic . But there is still room for improvement: "I try to develop my game, fix mistakes, do things better and just be a better tennis player."
The single tableau in Paris-Bercy
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