Dejected Zverev drops brutal truth bombs in raw Aus Open presser

Alexander Zverev was a pre-tournament favourite but his press conference said it all after bombing out early of yet another grand slam.

A dejected Alexander Zverev labelled his straight sets exit to Denis Shapovalov on Sunday as one of the worst of his career where “everything” went wrong.

The world number three was dumped out of the Australian Open by Canada’s 14th seed 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes in a display Zverev termed “just awful”.

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It leaves Zverev, 24, still chasing a first Grand Slam title despite being one of the pre-tournament favourites after winning the ATP Finals for a second time in November.

Asked what went wrong by reporters in his post-match press conference, the German launched into a brutal self-assessment.

“Everything,” Zverev said. “Maybe since Wimbledon, one of the worst matches I have played. It’s just tough.

“I give credit to Denis. It’s incredible he’s in the quarters. I think he deserves it.

“But today, in my opinion, was just awful from my side.”

Zverev, the 2020 US Open runner-up, never looked at ease against Shapovalov, making 32 unforced errors and venting his frustrations when he smashed his racquet in anger after one of the four breaks of his serve.

“It’s no one else’s fault. It’s purely me. At the end of the day, as the world number three, I have to take responsibilities for the things I do and don’t do,” he said.

Zverev’s task became harder when he lost the crucial second-set tiebreak after dropping the opening set. The German served eight double-faults.

“Today was just not good enough to beat someone like Denis,” he added.

Zverev is one of the world’s top players but has a reputation for crumbling at Grand Slams. The German is 0-11 against top-10 opponents at majors, and 4-15 against stars ranked inside the top 20.

Late last year Zverev said he expected to be among the big dogs of men’s tennis — but emphasised he needed to perform in the biggest tournaments.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Zverev. (Photo by MICHAEL ERREY / AFP)

“I think next year could be very similar to the last six months from this year,” Zverev told Eurosport in December.

“Before, there used to be always talk about Nadal, Federer and Djokovic — now the big titles were the Olympics, US Open, Turin (ATP Finals) and Wimbledon, and they were all won by Medvedev, Djokovic and me. I don’t expect it to be any different next year.

“I know I’m not far away from it, but for that I also have to win tournaments and grand slams.”

Zverev was dejected as he analysed his performances at Melbourne Park, admitting he never reached the level he was capable of.

“I was playing bad the whole week,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t think I was playing that great. Except against John Millman maybe I had a good match, but the other two matches weren’t great either.

“It’s very different also playing during the day and during the night here. I think that didn’t help me in a way, as well. There are no excuses.

“At the end of the day, I’ve got to do better. I came here with a goal to win, and maybe to become No. 1 and all that. But if I play like that, I don’t deserve it. It’s as simple as that.”

German tennis legend Boris Becker was scathing of Zverev. “Sascha never found his game, he didn’t develop dynamism or aggression,” Becker told Eurosport.

“Right from the start you had the feeling that Shapovalov was always a step ahead. The Canadian was livelier. I haven’t seen Zverev that passive for a very long time.

“You can lose and play badly, but you still have to make an effort and leave your soul on the pitch. We missed that today.

“Sascha’s dream of being No. 1 in the world after the Australian Open now is over. He has to think about what happened there.

“He was brimming with confidence before, but something has happened from Australia these past few weeks.

“The round of 16 is not enough for a top player like Zverev.”

Denis Shapovalov was all smiles. (Photo by MICHAEL ERREY / AFP)

It will be Shapovalov’s first quarter-final at the Australian Open, where he will face 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, the sixth seed and highest-ranked player left in the top half of the draw.

“I felt things were going my way early on, lost a bit of momentum in the second set, but fought well to come back and just rolled with it from there,” said Shapovalov, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

“It was probably the one I least expected to finish in three sets,” referring to his gruelling near 11-hour match schedule to get to the round of 16.

“It’s always an honour to play someone like Rafa, always going to be a battle,” said Shapovalov, who has won only one of his four matches against Nadal.

“It’s going to be tough but I’ll definitely enjoy it.”

With AFP