Alexander Zverev was far from happy about the scheduling at the 2022 Madrid Open, and he complained about it after the final.
When a tournament starts, matches tend to start early in the morning, so there's enough time for all the matches to be played throughout the day. However, in the later stages of the majority of the events, including the 2022 Madrid Open, matches usually start later as there are fewer to be played, and usually, organizers want to attract large crowds, which is more likely late in the day.
However, if the matches are too long, some players can start really late, exactly as Zverev experienced in his semifinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital.
After Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz played their semifinal match for almost four hours, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas started their match shortly before midnight, stretching late into the night, as the match finished after 1 a.m. local time.
After Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in three hours and 40 minutes, the ladies still played their final match in Madrid, including the celebration with a trophy afterward.
Therefore, the second semifinal between Zverev and Tsitsipas started really late, and the German, who later lost in the final, couldn't properly recover. After the tournament, he didn't hold back when criticizing the organizers.
"I have to say that the ATP’s job was an absolute disgrace this week. Two days ago, I went to bed at 4:00, 4:30 a.m. Yesterday, I went to bed at 5:20 a.m. If any normal person goes to bed one night at 4:00 a.m., the next night at 5:00 a.m., it will be a tough time just to be awake for them."
"And for me to play a final against Carlos Alcaraz, who to me is the best player in the world right now, in a Masters 1000 event, the next day, it is difficult."
The German player explained that because of the lack of sleep, he didn't have the coordination necessary to beat arguably the best player on the ATP Tour right now, as he couldn't properly focus.
"I had no coordination on my serve, I had no coordination on my groundstrokes. I missed two overheads that were super easy because I see the ball, and everything is moving in my eyes. I had absolutely no chance today."
Zverev also explained that this was not the first time something like that happened. He had an experience from the Mexican Open in Acapulco, where a similar situation occurred.
"I had absolutely no chance of playing my level. This is not the first time this is happening. I mean, in Acapulco I played until 5:00 a.m. I played until 5:00 a.m. I was awake until 8:30 a.m. This is happening on a weekly basis, and to be honest, I’m a little bit tired of it."
Zverev felt like a chance to succeed was taken away from him because of the scheduling. While others might look at it as a bad performance from him, he knew the true reasons and wasn't afraid to name them.
"Here, the chances are being taken away from me, and at the end of the day, everybody forgets about those things. Nobody talks about it. Everybody says: 'Yeah, it was a bad match, I made double faults, I didn’t play well and all of that.' But look at what is happening the days before. Look at what is actually happening behind the scenes, as well. It’s not quite fair, I think."