Alexander Zverev lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 Madrid Open final as the Spaniard needed only 1 hour to defeat his German opponent.
Although it looked like a comfortable victory for the Spaniard, Alexander Zverev spoke about the bad scheduling of the tournament which forced him to go to sleep very later. Despite the fact that the German might not have been 100% in the final, Carlos Alcaraz showed a top-quality tennis in the Spanish capital and his final opponent recognized his high level.
After the final, both players received trophies and spoke to the fans but also to each other. When Zverev got an opportunity to speak and praise his opponent, he said:
"I think right now you are the best player in the world. Even though you are still five years old you’re still beating us all so it’s great to see for tennis that we have such a new superstar who is gonna win so many grand slams gonna be world no 1 and I think gonna win this tournament so many times."
Later on at the press conference, the young German spoke also about the scheduling of the tournament, when he said:
“I have to say is 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.”
“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. 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.”
“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.”
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