The 'Good Problem' Zverev Has In Rome

  • Posted: May 12, 2021

Alexander Zverev arrives in Rome having to make a quick adjustment from the altittude in Madrid, where on Sunday he lifted his fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy. But the German doesn’t mind doing so as he gets set for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, which he won in 2017.

“It’s a good problem to have. If you are coming so late from Madrid, it means you’ve done well,” Zverev said. “I would like to have that problem always at tournaments.”

Zverev is fresh off an impressive performance at the Caja Magica, where he beat Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Matteo Berrettini en route to the crown. Before Madrid, he did not win more than one match at each of his previous three tournaments.

“It was a week that I didn’t expect to be honest,” Zverev admitted. “Obviously I’m extremely happy with winning my fourth Masters [1000 event], my second in Madrid. It was a week that I think I’ll remember.”

Now the trick will be to keep his level high in Rome, where he owns an 11-3 record. In addition to his championship run in 2017, Zverev made the final in 2018, when only Nadal was able to stop him.

“Usually when I find my form, I don’t have a problem maintaining it. If you look at the past history a little bit, when I won Madrid in 2018, I made finals here,” Zverev said. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to make finals here again. I hope I can continue this.

“This is obviously a completely different event, completely different conditions. I need some getting used to time. Yeah, I hope I continue playing the same way. We’ll see how that goes then.”

The sixth seed will begin his tournament against Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien, whom he beat in the Geneva quarter-finals two years ago in three sets. The winner will play Kei Nishikori, whom Zverev defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the second round in Madrid last week.

“I’m looking forward to this week,” Zverev said. “I’m looking forward to being able to back my form up. I hope I can do that.”

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