兹韦列夫揭示与“大三巨头”的差距，并透露了他职业生涯中最困难的对手

Alexander Zverev is one of the standout names of 2026. This season, the German tennis player has taken a step forward and finally achieved his long-awaited Grand Slam at Roland Garros. In a recent interview, he shared about the toughest opponent he has faced and the differences between facing the 'Big Three,' Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner.

In an interview with Knossi, Zverev stated that "the toughest opponent I've faced is Djokovic. Actually, I have a good balance against Roger Federer, although I also lost many matches, and there were days when you couldn't beat him. But overall, he played very fast, and I had the possibility to play faster than him, and he didn't like that, he knew. I had a tactic against him that I knew how it worked. I have won more times against him than I have lost."

He also emphasized that "against Nadal, at the beginning of my career, he was physically too strong for me. I was too thin, I didn't have the physical strength. We have always had very close matches, but in the beginning, he always beat me because I got tired. That suddenly changed when I was 23, 24 years old. From then on, I have won 3 or 4 times in a row against him. With Djokovic, we have always had very good matches, always in very good situations. He has beaten me more times, but he has beaten everyone more times."

Image

Zverev prefers playing against Alcaraz rather than against Sinner

The million-dollar question arose between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, and that's where 'Sascha' revealed that he currently doesn't enjoy playing against the world number 1. "At the beginning of my career, I liked playing against Sinner a lot, and in the last 7 or 8 matches I have lost. He has improved his game a lot, he is very consistent, and he doesn't give you anything. Now you feel like you're playing catch-up all the time during the match."

A completely different opinion from his rivalry with Alcaraz, as he tends to get more opportunities during the match. "I really enjoy playing against Alcaraz. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I win, but with him, the matches are always incredible. We always have incredible matches, tough battles, like this year in Australia, where we played for 5 hours and 30 minutes, and in the end, I lost, but it's so fun to play against him," he concluded.

Zverev reveals the nerves he felt in the Roland Garros final

Another key moment of the interview was when Zverev disclosed the nervousness he experienced in the Roland Garros final, admitting that "for me, that day, until the moment I won, was not beautiful. I had a lot of stress, I had a lot of panic. Throughout the tournament, I handled the nerves well. Sinner was eliminated, Djokovic too, and I made it to the final. It was quite a tough final day, I was very, very nervous. Besides, I knew the final was not against Alcaraz or Sinner, it was against Flavio Cobolli, against a player I had to beat."

With these words, he did not want to belittle the Italian, who is his friend, and ended by saying, "he's a good player, without a doubt. He's an excellent guy, but I had to win that final. I'm 29 years old, I don't know how many more chances I would have. Moreover, so many years have passed... It was what was missing for me because I have won at all levels in the tennis world. I've won the Olympic gold, ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000... The only thing missing was the Grand Slam title. Now that I have it, I can relax a bit."

The Olympic gold still holds more value than a Grand Slam

However, no matter how many Grand Slams he may have won, for Zverev, his Olympic gold will never be comparable. "I have been waiting a long time to win a Grand Slam, and the Olympic gold came early in my career, yet it was even more special for me. I don't know why, but the feeling was even more intense and stronger. You were in the Olympic village, living in a German home, the whole German home was excited... When I returned home, I realized what the Olympic gold meant for the entire nation."

"I can't explain it, but the feeling was totally different. I had never had that feeling in a tennis tournament," he concluded. Now that he has achieved every goal he had at the start of his career, the German tennis player has rid himself of a burden and is playing at the best level of his career, so it is possible that his achievements continue to grow, and his goals become even greater.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Zverev desglosa al "Big Three" y desvela el rival más difícil de su carrera