Spilling the beans! German star, Alexander Zverev revealed a lot of things during his recent post-match press conference at the ATP Finals. Although the two-time champion failed to make it through to the final this time, he still managed to put his name on the headlines with some interesting facts. Firstly, after his defeat to Taylor Fritz, he revealed, “Taylor maybe is not Carlos’ level, but he plays different. He has a lot bigger serve and a lot less rhythm when you play against him.” Then came another interesting revelation about the two new big stars of the tennis world! He highlighted how Alcaraz is completely “opposite” to him when it came to naming some “uncomfortable opponents.“

Who are their most uncomfortable opponents, though? Alexander Zverev has now lost four consecutive matches against Taylor Fritz in the 2024 season. So, surely he’s not one of his comfortable opponents, right? Speaking about the same, he revealed, “Yeah, he’s an uncomfortable player for me. I think it’s no secret. I think there are players that are more comfortable for some opponents and there are players that are less comfortable.” After that, he revealed a bit about his discussion with Carlos Alcaraz on the “uncomfortable” opponents on the Tour.

Alexander Zverev added, “I talked to Carlos about it, which is funny. I mean, I think we have quite a good relationship, quite a good friendship. It’s funny, his very, very comfortable opponents are the complete opposite to me. His uncomfortable opponents are the complete opposite to me, as well. It’s funny how matchups work in tennis.” Then interestingly, he said, “For him (Alcaraz), I think some of the most comfortable opponents are Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz. For me, it’s completely the opposite. He really doesn’t like playing some of the big hitters like a Jannik Sinner. He’s a great player, No. 1 in the world, for sure, but I still enjoy playing him.“

Just for information, Carlos Alcaraz has an edge in the H2H scoreline against all three opponents (Medvedev, Fritz, and Sinner). However, the margin with Jannik Sinner (6-4) is the closest among them all. On the other hand, Alexander Zverev trails by 5-7 in his H2H scoreline with Taylor Fritz but he has a lead of  4-2 against Sinner. Further reflecting more on these things, he added, “It’s funny how matchups in tennis work. Not every match is the same just purely based on ranking and the higher-ranked player is going to win. That’s not how it works.”

All the top three players in the ATP Rankings had a stellar outing in 2024! Can they retain their spots in the 2025 season as well? Well, time will tell. Has Alexander Zverev made any changes to his game to bring out more favorable results against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner? Although he has an edge over the Spaniard as well (6-5), he still said, “Everybody talks about how great they are defensively, but I don’t think they play defense a lot anymore…It’s about making sure that you can keep up offensively with them, being able to keep up with their speeds, their groundstrokes as well, so that’s the number one thing.“

So, despite having an edge, Zverev feels there is still room for improvement against two of the finest in the game. We’ve heard what Alexander Zverev had to say about these two. Now let’s check out what Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner think about each other.

Jannik Sinner talks about his contrasting personality with Carlos Alcaraz

Time and again, we’ve seen Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner portraying their respect and admiration for each other this year. Take for example, during an interview in October this year, Sinner said, “I wake up in the morning trying to understand how to beat Alcaraz. I feel like—at least talking from my side—he pushes me to do better. I wake up in the morning trying to understand what I can do better trying to beat him next time, which is something nice for me as a player. He is the one who brings the firepower. It also shows that everyone is different.“

So, along with the H2H scoreline and his recent claims about Sinner being one of his most “uncomfortable” opponents, these statements reflect how challenging it has been for both of them to face each other on the Tour. Even during a press conference at the ATP Finals, Jannik was spotted heaping praise on Alcaraz’s enormous talent. He recalled a moment from their very first meeting and revealed how the Spaniard managed to impress him immediately at first sight.

Even Alcaraz spoke about the same meeting, and he added, “It was a great time. I didn’t think at the time that we were going to share a lot of tournaments, to get into a place that we are in right now because it seemed impossible at the time.” After that, Sinner also reflected a bit of the difference in their personalities. “Different personalities I guess. I am more of a solid player in a way. I think where you are much much better than I am is the touch of the ball. You have very good sensibility. It’s nice to see sometimes you getting engaged with the crowd. That’s exactly what a crowd wants to see when they come to see a match,” said Jannik Sinner to Carlos Alcaraz. We’ve had three encounters between the two this year. Surely we’ll have plenty in the next year as well! Who do you think will win the most number of Grand Slam titles in 2025?