World No. 3 Alexander Zverev opened up after his French Open quarterfinal defeat against Novak Djokovic and gave a brutally honest assessment of the match. He said the Serb left him clueless during the fixture. These remarks from the German came after Djokovic made a brilliant comeback from a set down to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Alexander Zverev Speaks on Defeat to Novak Djokovic
Alexander Zverev entered the French Open as the third seed and started his campaign with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Learner Tien. He then beat Jesper de Jong and Flavio Cobolli before advancing to the quarterfinals after his fourth-round opponent Tallon Griekspoor retired during their match.
In the last eight, Zverev faced Djokovic and won the opening set 6-4. However, the Serb bounced back to register a 4-6, 6-3,6-2, 6-4 win and book his place in the semifinals.
In his post-match press conference, Zverev spoke about the fixture and hailed Djokovic’s level. The German also said there was a point during the match when he did not know how to win a point from the baseline against the Serb.
“I think it was very, very high level from him. It was, at some point, difficult for me in the first set when the sun was not completely down. There was still some heat on the court, I felt like hit some winners and do some damage with my serve,” Zverev said.
“Then later on when it got really, really cold, I couldn’t really do much and I’ve at some point felt like I didn’t know how to win a point from the baseline against him. I thought he was having solutions to a lot of things that I was doing, so credit to him. He played better than me today,” he added.
Novak Djokovic Leads 9-5 in Head-to-Head Against Alexander Zverev
Djokovic and Zverev clashed for the 14th time when they walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier for their French Open quarterfinal. The Serb currently leads their head-to-head at 9-5.
This year, the two locked horns in the semifinals of the Australian Open, with Zverev winning the opening set before Djokovic retired due to a hamstring injury.
MORE: Novak Djokovic Amusingly Accuses Alexander Zverev of Spying on Him Ahead of French Open Match
With his victory at the French Open, Djokovic extended his winning streak at Roland Garros to 22 matches, with his last defeat coming to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the 2022 edition. The Serb is next set to face Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the clay Major on Jun. 6.
