tennisnet.com ATP

"Do you have an Italian grandpa?" Journalist wants to bring Alexander Zverev to Italy

After winning the ATP tournament in Madrid, an Italian journalist caused a laugh. Alexander Zverev , however, criticized the alleged lack of interest in him in Germany.

by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 11, 2021, 05:32 pm

Alexander Zverev
© Getty Images
Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev had one of his best tennis weeks at the ATP Masters tournament in Madrid: The quarter-final victory over Rafael Nadal was followed by one over Dominic Thiem and at the end the final triumph over Matteo Berrettini. Zverev won his fourth Masters title - and is likely to have made it into the circle of favorites at the French Open. /

However, there was some irritation in the subsequent press conference. Zverev was approached by an Italian journalist about the alleged lack of interest of the German press in him. "Do you have an Italian grandfather", asked Ubaldo Scanagatta from ubitennis.com . "We are very interested in you. If you have a chance at an Italian passport, please come and play for us."

Zverev laughed. He'd rather not answer that, he said. "I don't want to make a story out of it. But thank you very much for the invitation."

The international part of the virtual press round is followed by the German one - but there were no (more) questions here. What irritated Zverev: "Nothing at all? I just won a Masters tournament and there is no question in German? You can see that the Germans are not interested in me," said Zverev and disappeared.

Zverev relativized: "Telephone calls with the German press"

In Rome, where he will start again this week, he put his statement into perspective. "If I had known, I would not have said it," said Zverev about the headlines after his criticism. "I didn't think about it. A lot of people watched the game on TV in Germany, and afterwards I also had a few phone calls with the German press ."

Zverev's relationship with the press was actually not always the easiest, making interviews with him difficult. Zverev should also be marketed internationally at the beginning of his ascent, the German tennis landscape seemed secondary to his ex-manager Patricio Apey. In the meantime, however, Germany seems to be more on the radar again. Rightly by the way: We at tennisnet.com were also able to look forward to great interest in reporting on Zverev during the Madrid week.

by Florian Goosmann

Tuesday
May 11, 2021, 05:32 pm
last edit: May 11, 2021, 05:32 pm