Germany star Alexander Zverev lashed out at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body for men’s tennis, for continuously organising late-night matches in the recently-concluded Madrid Open. On Sunday, May 8, the 25-year-old tennis player lost to 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz 3-6, 1-6 in straight sets to finsh as the runners-up.

Zverev couldn’t break Alcaraz even a single time and made as many as five doubles faults, showing how rusty he was during the match. The gold-medal winner of the Tokyo Olympics admitted that he was completely out of sorts and was disappointed after missing out on executing “super easy” strokes.

“The ATP’s job was an absolute disgrace this week. To play a final against Carlos Alcaraz, who for me is the best player in the world right now, in a Masters 1000 event … it is difficult. I had no coordination today. I had no coordination on my serve, I had no coordination on my ground-strokes. I missed two overheads that were super easy because I see the ball and everything is moving in my eyes,” Zverev said.

YOU ARE DEAD

Even as the Hamburg-born star criticised the ATP, Zverev also had words of praise for Alcaraz, hailing him as one of the best players of late. He didn’t mince words in saying that he didn’t stand a chance against Alcaraz, who went into the game after beating the legendary Rafael Nadal and World No.1 Novak Djokovic.

“I was a little bit late all of the time. My first step was not so quick. If you are playing the best players in the world, you have to be at your top. Otherwise you will have no chance. Today I had no chance,” he stated.

Zverev said that playing late-night matches on a regular basis took a toll on his body and the effect showed during the final against the Spaniard.

“I think all of us have stayed up late, all of us maybe partied sometimes, but if you are staying up until 4 a.m., the next day you are dead. I played the next day. If you’re doing it again, the next day until 5 a.m., you will have a difficult time to be even awake.

“I don’t want to take anything away (from Carlos). I feel sad for the final that we played, because this could have been a very good match. This could have been a great match. It’s quite upsetting because it takes away a great match. It takes away the sport of tennis.

“Everybody wanted to see a great fight. Everybody wanted to see some high-level tennis. But I’m also human. I’m not a robot. I can’t. I simply cannot be on my level when this is happening every single night,” Zverev added.

Zverev is now set to take part in the Italian Open and will play his first match in the tournament on Tuesday, May 10.