Alexander Zverev won’t look past clay-hating Alexander Bublik

Alexander Zverev says that his sole focus right now is getting beyond Alexander Bublik at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Zverev will face the Kazakhstani No 1 in the opening round of ths first clay court Masters event of 2023.

However, Bublik is known for having a distaste for playing on clay.

The German is going to underestimate him though.

“I have to be ready,” he told Eurosport.

“I think against him especially you have to be ready to play at your best and you also have to be physically ready to run.

“You never know what you’re quite going to get. So at the end of the day, I’m just looking forward to being back and playing and hopefully playing some good matches here.”

Zverev isn’t putting pressure on himself as he beats the comeback path after injury.

He feels that in this regard, it is unfair to compare any players to the big three.

“Rafa and Roger [Federer] are different,” he said.

“They come back from injury and they start winning tournaments immediately. I don’t know how they do that. But they’ve been doing it for 20 years now.

“I needed time but I think also my injury was maybe a little bit different. I was not able to walk really for two months. You have to learn your movements again, you have to learn how to walk again, you have to learn how to run again.

“These are all factors that may play a little bit of a part in tennis. But you can’t compare Rafa to me because Rafa comes back and starts winning and not only winning against everyone but beating them 6-0 6-1 6-2.”

Zverev also shared his belief that he might have toppled the might Nadal and Roland Garros last term had the cruel injury not struck.

“For some reason I did. I don’t want to sound arrogant,” he said.
“Rafa is obviously the best player to ever play on that surface so you never know what happens. You never know what happens in that match as well. If I don’t get injured, of course I [could have lost] that match. Of course, he can go on to win his 14th Grand Slam.

“But I felt like I was playing my best tennis that I’ve ever played on that surface. So for some reason, I did feel like I could at least compete with him, which I was doing.

“The outcome of the match obviously, always depends on little factors as well. But I did feel like that could have been the week for me.”