Andy Roddick Slams Critics for Treatment of Alexander Zverev Amid Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s Dominance: “That’s Ridiculous!”

World No.3 Alexander Zverev played four finals this year and took home only the Munich Open.

Andy Roddick Slams Critics for Treatment of Alexander Zverev Amid Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s Dominance: “That’s Ridiculous!”

Alexander Zverev, Andy Roddik, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via Tennis365, X/AllAboutHQ, Jannik Sinner HQ)

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Alexander Zverev was ”incredibly dissatisfied” with his performances this season, as all he won was the Munich Open by defeating Ben Shelton. After his straight-set defeat to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final, Zverev lost quite a few tournaments in the early stages.

He played his second final of the season in Munich, and after his defeat to Taylor Fritz in the Stuttgart Open final, Sascha once again suffered defeat at the hands of Sinner in the final of the Vienna Open. In the recently concluded ATP Finals, the two-time champion failed to progress to the semifinals, losing at the hands of Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round-robin stages.

Due to his recent performances, the three-time Grand Slam finalist has been dealing with a lot of criticism from the tennis world. But former player Andy Roddick pointed out why the critics should cut him some slack. He said on his Served podcast:

I’m kind of sick. Look, you might not be a fan of Sascha for reasons, and things that have happened off court, but there have been people on different podcasts who are treating him like he’s not a great player, and that p****d me off.

Since making his ATP Finals debut in 2017, Zverev has featured in the event every season except in 2022 because of the career-threatening injury he suffered at the French Open. The 28-year-old lifted the title for the first time in 2018 by defeating Novak Djokovic, and in 2021, he beat Daniil Medvedev.

24 titles, he’s made World Tour Finals, every year he hasn’t been hurt for the last nine years. Because Carlos and Jannik are so good, I don’t want to ever get to the place where anyone who’s not them is treated like a piece of s**t, that’s ridiculous.

Andy Roddick added

Except for the Australian Open, Zverev failed to progress beyond the semifinals of the rest of the three Majors, losing in the quarterfinals of the French Open against Djokovic. At Wimbledon and the US Open, he lost to Arthur Rinderknech in the first round and to Auger-Aliassime in the third round, respectively.

Carlos Alcaraz thinks Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime performed well this season

Apart from Jannik Sinner, two more players, Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, stood out this season, according to Carlos Alcaraz. Although Zverev did struggle, the Canadian ace ended up taking home three titles from five finals.

Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime
Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime (Image via X/AllAboutHQ)

Auger-Aliassime lifted the Adelaide International, Open Sud de France, and the European Open, and lost the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Paris Masters. Alcaraz, at the press conference after his ATP Finals defeat to Sinner, said he needs to be wary of Zverev and Auger-Aliassime next year.

For example, Felix is playing great, or has finished playing great tennis. Zverev is always a player who comes back really strong about everything. I think he knows what he has to do for next season. There are a few other players who are always really dangerous, too, and we have to be really focused on them. I think it’s going to be a really interesting year that we are going to have ahead of us.

Alcaraz played his career’s first final in the season-ending championship. Although he couldn’t end the season on a high note, he took home eight titles from 11 finals, the most on the men’s tour this year. His titles tally also includes the French Open and the US Open, which he won by defeating Sinner.

The last title he lifted this season was the Japan Open. After the ATP Finals, he wanted to play the Davis Cup Finals, but his hamstring injury forced him to withdraw from it.

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