Flying on the court, Alexander Zverev isn’t quite as smooth off it.
The German world no.2 has been stellar on the ATP Tour this season and is looking good for his third finals trophy of the year.
Zverev instantly had to correct Robson[/caption]
Zverev breezed past Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4 in just 73 minutes in his Turin opener for a tour-leading 64th win of 2024.
Zverev made it look like a doddle, but the same can’t be said for when he was faced with Laura Robson.
The former British women’s star has made a name for herself in punditry since her injury-induced retirement in 2022, and drew the best out of Zverev.
Opening their post-match chat, she said: “You just told me you weren’t even sweating out there,” which instantly drew an awkward response.
“That’s not what I said,” a giddy Zverev replied. “I gave you a handshake and you complained about the handshake being too formal, then I tried to give you two kisses on the cheeks and you said ‘you’re too sweaty get away from me’ and then I said you complain about too many things.”
Robson then said: “Let’s just talk about the tennis then.”
After a chat about his performance in which he said he’s not even happy with a perfect match, Zverev managed to avoid eye contact with Robson and any more giggling.
However, at the end it all went awry again when he said: “You make me nervous during these interviews, I start mumbling and I don’t know what to say anymore.”
“Shall we stop there then?” Robson replied. “If you’re nervous we can stop there.”
Zverev then finished by saying: “This is the most awkward interview I’ve had this year, for sure.”
Despite his ATP success, Zverev hasn’t made as many headlines as might be expected as he’s not been so prolific on the Grand Slam stage.
Yet to win a slam despite making the French and US Open finals, he’s still ranked above world no.3 Carlos Alcaraz who won two of four in 2024.
Discussing his place among tennis’ new crop of elite stars the 27-year-old was honest about where he sees himself.
“I think the attention went to Carlos and Jannik [Sinner] all year long,” he said. “They deserve it, they won two Grand Slams each.
“It’s normal in sports, at some point everybody retires, new players come along. We have a great group of guys leading with Jannik and Carlos.
“I think they had a better year, even though I’m No. 2 in the world. The benchmark is those two guys.”
