Perhaps all the tennis finally caught up with Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Racing from the US Open to Laver Cup to Beijing to Shanghai, the German has barely had time to catch his breath.
“I feel like I've actually, in a way, maybe overachieved this week because of how much tennis I played,” Zverev said after his 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
“I carried a little bit of injury, I carried fatigue into the tournament, and I'm okay to lose to a player like this today.”
Despite an impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals Thursday, the 29-year-old came out flat against the Spaniard, who is through to his first ATP Masters 1000 final since the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2022 by playing some of his best tennis of the year.
“First, I'm not a robot, I'm a human being (smiling), I get tired,” Zverev said. “After the US Open, I had one day off in total. I think I played a lot of tennis, which is very, very positive because that means I played well.
“I think even here I had tough matches. I personally feel like I was quite flat since the Bublik match, because I was losing energy. [Zverev defeated Bublik in a third-set tie-break in the fourth round.]
“I played a phenomenal match against Alex de Minaur, but today I was flat. Even in the first set, even though I won the set, I was flatter, I was not reacting so well. I was returning quite badly. We're all human beings, even the best players in the world.”
Zverev, who leaves Shanghai guaranteed to claim ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours, had trouble returning wide forehands to the deuce court.
“I knew that he is serving there, but the return is the most difficult shot when you're a bit fatigued because the first thing that gets tired in tennis I think is your eyes," Zverev said. "I knew that the serve was going there, I was with it on the racquet most of the time, but I was missing it, I was not returning inside the court.
“So, again, credit to him, he played the way he was supposed to play. He played a pretty good match, I thought.”
Zverev is next scheduled to play the ATP 500 in Vienna.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices 
