Zverev: “I don’t want to end my career as the best player never to win a Grand Slam”

A dejected Alexander Zverev admitted he was hurting after losing in a Grand Slam final for the third time out of three at the Australian Open on Sunday.

The world No 2 was outplayed 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 by world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who picked up his third slam title, and admitted his fears about not being able to big one of the sport’s four biggest titles.

“I’m doing everything I can, I’m working as hard as I ever did, I think I’m doing all the right things off-court,” Zverev told reporters. “I think I’m practising the right things, but I lost in straight sets today. I mean, those are facts. That is a fact. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today.

“I mean, I don’t want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam, that’s for sure. I’ll keep doing everything I can to lift one of those trophies.”

“I really thought I had a good chance”

Zverev was emotional as the trophy presentation began, with Sinner putting his arm on his shoulder and passing on some kind words.

“I was quite down,” Zverev said. “I was quite emotional also in that stage. I think he saw that. He said that I will definitely lift one of those trophies in my career. I’m too good not to. That’s his words.

“It was a little bit of a tough moment for me because I really went in the final and also the preparation today, I really thought I had a very good chance because I was feeling good. I was feeling the ball quite well. I was feeling like I can compete.

“So it was just a difficult moment for me. I mean, now for the third time, seeing somebody lift the trophy, me standing next to that is difficult because there’s nothing more I want than to be able to hold one of those trophies in my hands.”

“I serve better but he does everything else better than me”

Sinner did not face a single break point in the entire match and Zverev admitted there are very few areas of the game, perhaps just one, where he has the edge on the Italian.

“He completely outplayed me,” he said. “From the back of the court, completely outplayed me. I’m serving better than him, but that’s it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me.

“At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, like massive factors, and he does four or five of them better than me. That’s the reason why he won. He deserved to win today.

“The facts speak for themselves. He’s won all the Grand Slams on hard courts since last year. He’s lost, I think, three or four matches on hard courts…somewhere around that. He’s in a different universe right now to anyone else.”

Lucky net cord was key

Nevertheless, had Zverev somehow been able to take the second set, the match could have been different, a lucky net cord going Sinner’s wat for 5-4 in the tiebreak and then the Italian hitting the line on set point to double his lead.

“I felt like I could win the second set,” Zverev said. “I felt like that was a massive point. I think whoever wins that set, kind of can get a little bit of momentum. Being down two sets to love, especially then his confidence goes up, mine goes down. It’s a long way back then against someone like Jannik.

“If it’s one set all, yeah, maybe I have a chance. But two sets to love… I didn’t stop fighting. I didn’t stop believing. Then in the third set I thought he outplayed me more than in the other sets.”

“He’s like prime Novak”

Zverev led the head to head with Sinner 4-2 going into the match but said the Italian has elevated his game to the point where he is now “prime Novak (Djokovic)”.

“He serves better, he returns better, he hits his forehand better, he hits his backhand better, he moves better, he volleys better,” he said, comparing Sinner now to the man he beat at the US Open in 2023 and elsewhere. “I mean, there’s nothing that he doesn’t do better right now.

“I remember those matches. Before I always felt like once I was getting on top of the rally, I was winning most of those rallies. Yeah, now it’s like he’s prime Novak. It’s so difficult to go through him. I think he’s just all around a much better tennis player than he was back then.”

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