Zverev: “I don’t think I have much else to prove”

Alexander Zverev heads to the ATP Finals in Turin as world No. 1 and the clear favourite, and he says he no longer has much to show anyone. “I’m fine with that. I’m motivated. I know you’re about to ask me: no, I don’t think I have much else to prove,” the German told Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Monday.

The interview, conducted by Gaia Piccardi and published in Italian, came six days before the start of the season-ending event at the Inalpi Arena, from November 15 to 22. Zverev leads Jannik Sinner by 100 points at the top of the ATP rankings, with 9,550 points to 9,450.

Zverev on reaching No. 1

Zverev became world No. 1 on November 2, the 30th man to top the ATP rankings and the second German after Boris Becker. Asked whether the long and bumpy wait had been worth it, he pointed to his career.

“Nobody has had more ups and downs than me, very hard moments to get through,” he said. “That’s why rising to No. 1 had, and still has, an even more special taste.”

He drew a line between the top spot and his first Grand Slam title, at Roland-Garros this year. “The taste of relief: I had been chasing it all my life,” he said of that title. “But the top spot in the rankings tastes of something completely different: it means that this year I was the most consistent player, that my performance has finally settled over the months and the seasons.”

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Zverev on Sinner and Alcaraz

Asked what he would advise Sinner, who has been out injured since July 12, Zverev said he expects him back at his best quickly.

“Jannik is a champion for many good reasons. He knew when to stop, he is working on his recovery,” Zverev said. “I don’t think it will take him long to be one of the best players on the planet again: it’s not as if you forget how to do it in the meantime. Personally, I can’t wait to face him.”

Zverev won his first two Grand Slam titles this year, at Roland-Garros and the US Open, without facing Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz on the way. When Piccardi told him that, for part of the public, becoming No. 1 with a losing record against the two was a crime, he turned the question back on her. “Is it for you?” he asked. When she said no, he replied: “Then why are you asking me?”

Told it was a widely debated topic, he answered. “Let me answer you this way: I can face and try to beat whoever I find on the other side of the net,” Zverev said. “I have nothing to do with the fact that Jannik had heat stroke in Paris and that Carlos was knocked out at Flushing Meadows by Shelton, whom I beat in the final. In the coming seasons I hope to face them again: what else can I do?”

At 29, he is not thinking about the end. “I want to play for at least another 20 years…,” he said. And after that? “Then I’ll take up padel.”