Alexander Zverev Admits To Being 'Mentally Affected' By Recent Struggles
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Alexander Zverev was very close to completing some of his dreams this year, but he has failed to deliver when it mattered, and now the German admitted that it mentally affected him.
When tennis players first step onto the court, they usually have two dreams. One of those is to become the World No. 1 player, and the other one is obviously to win a Grand Slam.
In his tennis career, Zverev got incredibly close to completing both of those goals. He has played three Grand Slam finals, with the most recent being this year's Australian Open final. In that final, Zverev lost to Jannik Sinner, 3-6, 6-7(4), 3-6.
However, despite losing his third Grand Slam final, the German player was given a chance to complete another of his childhood dreams. After Jannik Sinner's three-month suspension, he was in the pole position to become the ATP World No. 1 player.
But early losses in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami meant that Zverev is far away from that spot at the moment. Since reaching the Australian Open final, the 27-year-old has lost more matches than he managed to win (5-6).
Now, he will have a chance to forget that and get back to winning ways on the clay courts, which have historically suited him well. Zverev spoke about his struggles ahead of the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters, admitting that his recent bad run of form has mentally impacted him.
"I didn't take a rest after Australia and mentally it affected me a lot. I was very upset, I was very tired also. I didn't really have time to process what happened. In a way, I just kept going, which was perhaps not the smartest thing to do."
Zverev admitted that he wasn't able to process his Australian Open loss, but he also didn't want to withdraw from the Golden Swing (tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro) because of his contractual obligations with those events.
"But tennis is also a business. You have contracts with tournaments that you have to obligate. These contracts are signed six or seven months in advance."
During his press conference, Zverev, as one of the signed players, also spoke about the recent letter that the top ATP and WTA players sent to the four Grand Slams, demanding a higher prize money share.
"It's no secret, we have the lowest revenue share in professional sport from the Grand Slam side. So, we're not trying to say it has to be 50-50 like in the NBA or American sports, but maybe a fair share would be nice. "I'm sure that we're going to achieve that."
