Alexander Zverev makes special US Open ‘request’ amid nod to Roger Federer and Pete Sampras
Alexander Zverev joked he is merely renting Arthur Ashe Stadium late at night after beating Luciano Darderi to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open.
The French Open champion eased into a two-set lead against the Italian on Monday night but the 21st seed made more of a fight of it towards the end.
The 24-year-old went for broke but still lost the third set in a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3) defeat in their fourth-round clash at Flushing Meadows.
After Zverev began the tournament with two five-setters that finished around 2am, the German has enjoyed more routine straight-setters in the last two rounds.
But one consistent thread has emerged for the top seed at this year’s US Open: he has always played the last match on the tournament’s main show court.
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The Wimbledon finalist quipped that he might go out for a drink after earning a rare finish before midnight, while also paying homage to five-time champions Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.
Zverev also light-heartedly said that he will be looking for another night match when he takes on the unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp in their last eight encounter later this week.
He said in his on-court interview, “I don’t know what to do with myself because it’s before midnight. I might go back to the practice court, I might go out to a bar; I don’t know yet. Unfortunately, that was a joke; relax!”
During the US Open night sessions, fans have been treated to one women’s singles and one male’s singles match. But as the tournament reaches the latter stages, that won’t become an option due to the paucity of players left.
However, Zverev will still be making a request to the US Open organisers about his scheduling.
He continued, “Unfortunately, we don’t have enough matches anymore, so I can’t play a second-night match, but I’ll request a night match for sure.
“You know how players sometimes go around saying, ‘This is my court’ when they win a great point. This is not my court at all.
“Roger Federer won here 78 times, Pete Sampras won here 112 times, but I feel like I rented this court out from 11pm to 2am for two weeks, so I hope they are going to continue putting me in the same time.”
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