(Photo credit score: David Gonzales-Imagn Images)
Germany’s Alexander Zverev used his post-match remarks in Shanghai on Saturday to criticize more and more uniform court docket circumstances, arguing match selections are tilting the game towards Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
After beating Valentin Royer 6-4, 6-4, the World No. 3 mentioned he is pissed off by surfaces that play equally week to week and looks like they’re being deliberately slowed down.
‘I hate when it is the identical, to be trustworthy,’ Zverev mentioned on court docket after the match. ‘I believe the match administrators are going in direction of that path as a result of, clearly, they need Jannik and Carlos to do effectively each match, and that is what they like.
‘Nowadays, you possibly can play virtually the identical method on each floor. I do not prefer it. I’m not a fan of it. I believe tennis wants completely different recreation kinds, tennis wants a little bit little bit of selection.’
His feedback arrive as top-ranked Alcaraz of Spain and No. 2 Sinner of Italy proceed to form the lads’s tour. They are the one gamers to carry No. 1 since June 2024 and break up the 4 majors this season. Each can also be coming off a win as Sinner gained the China Open final week, whereas Alcaraz captured the Japan Open earlier than skipping Shanghai with a left ankle damage.
Zverev’s stance echoes views that retired tennis nice Roger Federer shared two weeks in the past on the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast. Federer additionally mentioned he believed match organizers had been shaping court docket speeds to create finals matches between Sinner and Alcaraz. The 20-time main winner mentioned there must be an adjustment to court docket velocity to create extra selection in tennis.
‘That’s why we, the match administrators, we have to repair it,’ Federer mentioned. ‘We have to haven’t solely quick courts, however what we’d wish to see is Alcaraz or Sinner determine it out on lightning-fast (courts), after which have the identical match on super-slow (courts) and see how that matches up. … It’s as a result of the match administrators have allowed with the ball velocity and the court docket velocity that each week is principally the identical.’
–Field Level Media