F. AUGER-ALIASSIME/A. Zverev
6-4, 7-6
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. When comparing the loss in New York and this latest one to Felix, would you attribute these failures to more mechanical issues or emotional issues, if you can separate the two?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think Felix evolved as a tennis player since the last couple of months. I think he played better here than in New York.
But I also have to be honest with myself. This was the worst match that I played in the last month - taking out the Sinner match in Paris, because I wasn't fit.
Yeah, from my end, this was not a good tennis match.
Q. You finished the year No. 3, which is excellent, action, behind Carlos and Jannik. If we look at the tournament, you just won Munich. I think maybe deep inside you I guess you want more. How would you rate your season from 1 to 10? Are you going to play the Davis Cup?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I'll play. I'll play the Davis Cup.
For me, an incredibly unsatisfying season. The tennis season is long, you have a lot of up and downs. For me there were not many ups. I think for me the Australian Open final, Munich as you mentioned. Everything else, I'm very unsatisfied.
Yeah, that's it.
Q. Looking into next year, what are the main things you want to do differently? You mentioned the other day about you had a lot of niggling injuries. Is it that? Are there things in your mind you want to do differently?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I mean, staying fit is number one for me priority because then I can build. It's as simple as that. I feel like over the last month I was still building up quite nicely. I feel like my level has been improving. Today it was nowhere near what it was the last month.
But yeah, I mean, look, I'll play Davis Cup, then I'll take some time off, then I'll have some time to think about it.
Right now it's a disappointment with the loss. It's not only a disappointment with the loss, it's a disappointment with how I performed with my capabilities. The last couple days, I definitely played better. For me, that's the most disappointing.
Q. I had the impression sometimes you were not watching well the ball. You made some mistakes with volleys that were unusual. Another one was about Davis Cup. Sinner and Alcaraz have said in these days probably they should play Davis Cup every two years or three years. I remember you didn't like too much the format of the Davis Cup, the new format. Sinner today said, I have never won the true Davis Cup.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It's true. I think he's right. The true Davis Cup is the home-and-away ties. For me, if you're in the final of Davis Cup, I'm more than happy to play one more week after the World Tour Finals. But to play quarterfinals, semifinals, finals, I'm not too happy about because it can be a waste of time. If you lose in the semifinals, if you lose in quarterfinals, for me it's a waste of time.
In a way, yeah, the real Davis Cup is the atmosphere. To play against Italy in Italy, it would be a completely different atmosphere than playing Italy in Spain. I played against Nadal in a bullfighting arena. That's for me the real Davis Cup.
I always keep my opinion. I always said my opinion over the last couple years. I don't think this Davis Cup is the real Davis Cup. It's an exhibition tournament in a way that is called Davis Cup.
I'll play it now because my teammates and my German colleagues really asked me to play because they feel like everybody's getting older. Struffy doesn't have many opportunities anymore. The doubles guys don't have many opportunities anymore. I'm playing it just because of that reason. For me this has nothing to do with Davis Cup.
The volley, it's very tough to serve and volley because the lights are coming from above. Every time the ball is going up, I had problems.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports