Follow us on Google Discover Alexander Zverev has caused quite a stir at the Shanghai Masters, but not with his tennis racket.
The German has been dumped out in disappointing fashion to Arthur Rinderknech just as he was at Wimbledon earlier this year.
Rinderknech praised Zverev after beating him, but it’s some other comments made by the world number three that have led to pundits sharing their opinions on the matter.
Zverev has claimed that tennis courts are being made slower to aid the concept of a final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner taking place.
Sinner has instantly taken offence to Zverev’s claim and now it would appear that a four-time doubles Grand Slam champion has taken issue with his comments too.
Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty ImagesRennae Stubbs takes issue with Alexander Zverev
Stubbs took issue with something Zverev did before the French Open earlier this year, and she’s never afraid of saying things how they are, especially when it comes to the German.
Zverev’s comments will naturally cause quite the stir, given that he will likely rile the already dominant Sinner and Alcaraz and Stubbs doesn’t necessarily agree with him either.
Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, she suggested that Zverev would be wise to simply focus on getting one of his weakest shots in a better place instead of mouthing off at the game’s top stars.
She said: “The thing I do agree with Roger about is that we would like to see courts that are a bit faster. At the end of the year, it was usually indoors and fast. That supported people who played attacking tennis and came in.
“I would like to see that come back, and I don’t disagree with Alex on that, and I don’t disagree with Roger.
“But is Zverev joking? If he thinks they are doing it to help Carlos and Jannik, here is a good example.
“The Australian Open played medium this year, Jannik wins it. Zverev gets smoked in the final. The French Open rolls around. Guess who wins it? Carlos, match points to Sinner. Both of them are in the final. Zverev, where were you?
“Wimbledon is grass. You know who wins it? Jannik Sinner! It’s grass. Is it slower? Sure. But it’s still grass.
“And then the US Open, which is notoriously medium to fast. Who wins it? Carlos Alcaraz.
“It’s like these guys win on every surface. Put them indoors on a slow court, on an ice rink, and they are going to win. Because they are going to adapt. Both of them flatten out the ball and serve unbelievably. Both of them can come into the net, and both of them can slice. Both of them have perfect forehands and backhands with no weakness.
“Who has a funky forehand? Zverev. It’s like, dude, you should appreciate that the fact that it’s a slow court.
“On top of that, he loses to Rinderknech. Do you know what Rinderknech is known for? Serve and volleying and coming into the net. He doesn’t do it all the time, but he comes in a lot. He attacks the net a lot and has a little bit of a dodgy forehand. So we are talking dodgy forehand on dodgy forehand.
“Who won? Rinderknech. Because he had more variety. He chipped the forehand, he used the drop shot, he chipped his backhand, he came into the net. He had more variety than you. And the court is slow, clearly, but he utilised all the tricks in the bag to beat you and you f—- up.
“You came in on the wrong approach shots, and your forehand went south when it mattered. Stop making excuses!”
Zverev needs to focus on playing tennis
It’s hard to believe that after such a drab year by his standards, he still remains in the third spot on the list of ATP world rankings.
It probably says more about the players chasing him down that they’ve not been able to oust him, but by his standards, it’s been a poor year.
These comments won’t make life any easier for Zverev, with Sinner and Alcaraz likely to now push even harder when the time comes to play against him in the future.
In the early stages of next season, Zverev needs to simply focus on playing tennis and proving himself as the player who has been to three major finals during his career and not the top seed going out early as has been the case this year.