Alexander Zverev admitted to feeling empty during his narrow and brutal defeat to Taylor Fritz in the ATP Finals semifinal.
Zverev was the most impressive player at the tournament, along with Jannik Sinner, in the round-robin stage. The German won all his matches to top the group, including a triumph against an angry Carlos Alcaraz.
His win against Alcaraz seemed like the perfect preparation for the semifinal. However, the Spaniard lost his temper due to the superb tennis Zverev played. At one point, the 21-year-old threw his racket onto the ground.
However, Zverev knew Fritz would be a formidable opponent in the semifinal. The American had beaten the two-time ATP Finals champion in their three previous meetings this year at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Laver Cup.
Unfortunately for Zverev, his barren run against Fritz continued at the ATP Finals. After a thrilling battle, an inspired Fritz prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 to set up a repeat of the US Open final against Jannik Sinner.
Zverev had already secured the year-end No. 2 ranking ahead of Alcaraz before the match, but that was no consolation after a tough loss. He had chances in the third set to take control before the tiebreak.
This year's French Open runner-up made some interesting comments in his press conference afterward. Zverev said he felt empty at the start of the match, which contrasted with the energy he felt throughout the contest against Alcaraz.
"I felt a bit more empty today. Yesterday, I felt really energetic and kind of full of energy. I was like a jumping ball that I could move and I could run no matter how long."
"Today, I felt more empty, especially in the beginning. The longer the match went on, the better I felt actually. In the beginning of the match I struggled. In the warm-up I struggled as well."
Zverev felt it was one of those days that can happen to a player. It took him a lot of time to get going, and everything felt more tiring until at least the third set of the semifinal.
"It was one of those days where everything, it takes times to get going. It's like it's not a natural flow to movement patterns, to your shots as well, to just how you wake up in the morning. Everything is a little bit more tiring. I felt that way today."
"At the end of the day you're only going to play the best players in the world here, of course. Yesterday against Carlos, it was the highlight of the tournament. Probably the highest-level match that the tournament has seen so far.
"Unfortunately, I didn't back it up at the level in the first set. Again, as I said, I thought in the second and third set I did everything to extend maybe better than him, except to win in the important moments, the break points, the tiebreak, yeah. That's how you lose a match in the end."
Although Zverev did not give a clear reason for feeling empty, the long and grueling season could have been a factor. The world No. 2 has been a vocal critic of the length of the calendar, and he may have just run out of steam against Fritz.
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