Alexander Zverev has revealed the “most annoying” player for him to face and also named an opponent who has made him feel “like a complete fool.”
The world No 3 is currently in action at the 2025 Canadian Open, where he is the top seed in the absence of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Zverev is seeking his second title of 2025 after his victory at the ATP 500 in Munich in April.
The German, a seven-time Masters 1000 champion, won the Canadian Open in Montreal in 2017.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up appeared on the Nothing Major podcast, which is hosted by former American tennis stars John Isner, Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson.
Zverev was asked by Johnson to name the “most annoying” opponent for him to face.
“For me, the most obvious answer is Daniil Medvedev. I mean, I lost to him like 78 times, to be honest (laughs),” Zverev said.
“Even now, even now I’m ranked three in the world and he is ranked — I don’t know, 14 — and I still lose to him in Halle.
“He turns into prime Novak Djokovic every time he plays against me and I’m like… ‘I don’t even play that bad. Why am I losing?’”
Zverev holds a 7-13 record against Medvedev and he has lost 12 of his last 14 encounters with the Russian.
In Toronto, Zverev was leading 6-4, 1-0 in his fourth round match with Francisco Cerundolo when the Argentine was forced to retire.
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The 28-year-old also named Cerundolo as a player he struggles against prior to their match in Canada.
“I’ll tell you… Cerundolo. I am 0-3 against him and I won one set against him in three matches. All on clay, twice in Madrid, though,” the German added.
“I have four losses in Madrid in my entire career and two of them came against him. And both straight sets. I just felt like a complete fool, I had no idea what I was doing.”
During the same episode, Querrey asked Zverev to pick the worst match he has played in his career.
“Yeah, I think any match this year, probably (laughs),” Zverev said.
“Yeah, there’s a few matches that come to mind. I had a period of time where I just couldn’t put a second serve in the court. For like a year and a half, I was serving like 20-something double faults a match.
“But one of the worst matches last year… oh my god, he’s gonna hate me for that, but I played my fellow countryman in Acapulco.
“I played against Daniel Altmaier. It was the worst tennis match I think I’ve ever played in my entire life.
“You know, it was one of those matches like, your serve’s not working, your forehand’s terrible — well, my forehand is always terrible — but, my forehand was terrible.
“My backhand, I played like Steve Johnson with two hands. I couldn’t volley, I just couldn’t do anything. It was such a horrific match.”
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