A. ZVEREV/V. Gaubas
6-4, 6-0
Q. Middle the first set, you started to come back, so what changed, in your opinion?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think in the second set especially, end of first set, end of second set, I started to play much better tennis, for sure.
It was a bit tricky out there. It was extremely windy in the beginning. It was difficult to find a rhythm in a way that you can accelerate, you can kind of hit your shots with power.
I'm still trying to be a powerful player. I'm still trying to kind of generate myself a lot. For that the conditions were difficult. Then the wind kind of calmed down in the second set. From then onwards, I felt really good.
Q. We spoke a lot at the end of last year about your high ambitions for this year. Do you feel like you have your goals up again, shooting for the top prize at Roland Garros?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, Roland Garros is my main goal, that's for sure. I've said that last year. I think the Grand Slams are my main targets.
In Australia I was in the finals. Of course it was very bitter, just sad for me to lose the way I lost in Australia. But luckily we have four chances a year. For me Roland Garros is always kind of the one I'm looking forward to the most.
I hope I can play good tennis there, yeah, just show my strengths.
Q. You always play great in Rome. You know the court very well. Do you find the court this year faster or slower than in other years? Musetti said the center court is much slower.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: The balls are much slower this year. I don't know what they did the with the balls again. Obviously we're playing with the Dunlop balls throughout the whole clay court season.
In Monte-Carlo and Munich and Madrid, we played with extremely fast balls. We played with a fast ball. The ball was very, very big as well.
I arrived here... I mean, it's possibly the same ball, but it's not the same ball. There's no chance. I'm stringing my racquet about three kilos less than anywhere else during the clay court season. That's what makes it slower. That's what makes the big difference compared to last year, I think is the ball.
Very strange. I don't know what to say because the same company. They try to tell us it's the same ball, but there's no chance in the world that it is.
Q. You're very good friend that retired against you in Melbourne is conspicuously absent from the tour the last couple weeks. Do you think he still has what it takes to win Roland Garros?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Only here that he pulled out, right? He played all the other tournaments. Maybe he didn't play up to his standard or his liking, but who does sometimes. If you're not winning the tournament, if you're a top guy and you're not winning the tournament, you always go home a little bit pissed and a little bit upset.
I still believe once he finds his game, he's still one of the most dangerous players in the world. There's no question about his ability at all. It's more whether he still wants to. It's more whether he still wants to put in the work. That's a question to him. I can't answer that.
His tennis ability is above everyone else's.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports