“I want to win, I am supposed to win” Alexander Zverev reveals his elite mentality before the all-important semifinal showdown against Rafael Nadal
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Alexander Zverev in action against Carlos Alcaraz
Alexander Zverev had never won a Grand Slam match against the ATP top 10 before his fantastic win against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinal of the French Open. Alcaraz the rising teenage star and world number 6, was hugely favored over Zverev to win their encounter but Zverev flipped the script to give the youngster some lessons on the clay court. Zverev defeated Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(9-7) and set up a semifinal clash with the 13-time French Open winner, Rafael Nadal who is chasing his 22nd Grand Slam title.
Zverev had been extremely close in many of his grand slam matches against the ATP top 10, but he always fell short by inches. Zverev too feels the same, he said: “Yes, I have not beaten them in majors, but I feel like I was very close. I feel like I have had very difficult and tough matches against them…But there is a big difference between having a tough match and beating them.
“Hopefully I can manage and take this win today and put it on the court on Friday.”
With the quarterfinal win, Zverev has entered the semifinal at the French Open second year in a row and he will be up against the biggest clay-court champion.
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Alexander Zverev felt it was dangerous to let Alcaraz get confident.
Zverev felt that he had to risk it to hit the backhand down-the-line winner for a match point. He said: “I had to win the match myself. I feel like you’re either going to miss it by a country mile or going to hit a winner. So, I hit a winner, which I’m quite pleased about.”
He was appreciative of his young opponent saying he was one of the best players in the world right now. He said:
“Letting him go ahead in the match, letting him get the confidence was going to be a very difficult thing for me to come back from. In the end I’m happy that I won in four sets and didn’t have to go to a fifth set.”
Zverev is also aware of the expectations the fans have from him given he is the world’s number 3 and was unable to beat any ATP top 10 in Grand Slams. He said: “At the end of the day, I’m not 20 or 21 years old anymore,”
“I’m 25. I am at the stage where I want to win, I’m at the stage where I’m supposed to win, as well.”
Zverev will have a shot at his second Grand Slam final in his semifinal match against Rafa and he would like the grab the opportunity because if he is able to defeat Rafa, he will be the huge favorite to win his first Grand Slam in Paris. “if” he manages to beat Rafa.
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Prateek Sinha
(365 Articles Published)