Latest / Bleacher Report / Alexander Zverev Talks the Chase to Win His 1st Major & Shows Off His Roulette Watch

Transcript

Alexander Zverev Talks the Chase to Win His 1st Major & Shows Off His Roulette Watch · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It was his thirty fifth win here, the most at
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: any major. Alex Verev is used to being great at
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Roland Garrows, he joins us now.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: After it was at too much. I'm not great yet.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Oh no, you are phenomenal. Give it up for Alex everybody.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It is. It is raining as we record this year
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: at Roland Garrows. A beautiful win over young learner Tea
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and he got you before. To get a little revenge
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: had to be sweet.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he's beaten a lot of great players
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: in the beginning of the year. He's beaten Medvedev at
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: the Australia Ope, he's beaten me in Acapulco. So you know,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: I had I knew that I had to be one
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: hundred percent straight away. I knew that I had to
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: play good tennis. And yeah, I'm happy with the level today.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: I'm happy with the match. I'm happy with a straight
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: sead win and great start to determinent ladies.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: First in the last decade, you're nineteen to in first rounds.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: But you sometimes like to play a little longer, lose
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: a set, play for a few more hours than necessary.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: But lately I.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: Feel like you're really real dead and what's the difference
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: that makes you be able to just say I'm in
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: here for two hours calling.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: It a day of resting. I'm getting old. That's the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: number one thing.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: No, But yeah, I'm known for for playing unnecessary five
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: set matches in early rounds, but it hasn't been that
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: way lately. I hope I will not jinx it. I
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: hope that in the next round I will not come
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: out and.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Be out there for five hours.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: But you know, generally speaking, I think it is so
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: important to start off a major strong, and start of
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: a major quick, especially if you want to go deep,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: if you want to go to the later stages. He
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: hit every single ounce of energy. And yeah, all in all,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I can't complain about today.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Today for sure.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: You and Sam okay, he listen. I never had a
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: problem with Sam.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: He's the one that is just my biggest hater for
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: some reason.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Those that do not know Sam is one of the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: hosts of the Nothing Major podcast you recently had at.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Away we had a hotty bracket with No, that's not
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the reason. What's the reason. That's not the reason. That's
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: just not the reason.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Every turn in that play, you keep saying old Vera
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: is not one of the five favorites to.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Win it, and then I end up winning.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: It to go back and get the picked me to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: win anything.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: No, not really. If you win Monty Carlo on the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: podcast and I lost first round, I know.
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: My fault.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: It's his fault. Yeah, I'm kidding. Actually, I actually really
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: enjoyed the podcast.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I do listen to it.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: I do watch it on Instagram also sometimes, so I
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: actually I actually.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Like it getting it. We're gonna put you in regardless
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: of what we're talking about.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: We're gonna do best outfits of Alex Vera exactly.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, going to this event, you played five warm up
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: tournaments years past, you've played two or three. How do
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: you determine how many events you're going to play leading
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: up to this major?
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Well, I just played the Masters one thousands and the
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: German tournaments pretty much, so not not much to choose from.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean I've had a little bit of
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: a rough play Quis season. I would say, you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I won Rome last year, which I didn't defend this year.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Madrid is kind of my favorite term, which I lost
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: early there as well, So I played maybe a few
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: more terms than I did in the last few years,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: but I feel like I want to leave that in
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: the past. I want to leave that behind. I'm here
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: at Roland Garris. I had great memories here in the
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: last few years, and you know, I want to go
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: one step further than than the years before.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I know I'm not the favorite. You don't need to
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: remind me. I don't. That's fine, I know it myself.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: But you know that's a good thing. I know. Don't
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: ever pick me again.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Okay, but generally speaking, of course, I'm still chasing that
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: first major title. I'm still chasing the dream, and I
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't want to give up yet. So
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Paris is kind of the one that I always mark
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: on my calendar.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: You know, the clay has been a surface in which
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: you've had a tremendous amount of success, and some of
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: my favorite matches of yours in which I've watched, or
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: matches in which your serf is just absolutely firing.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I can remember a few years.
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: Ago, a couple of years ago, you played Carlo Zakarais
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: and I was calling that match, and I remember the
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: first two sets. I think you served eighty five percent
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: for serves, averaging one hundred and.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Thirty five miles an hour.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: Obviously, that's a lot easier when the conditions allow for
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: when the weather's a bit warm. You've had so much
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: success in here, You've had so much success in Rome,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: places in which they typically don't get super warm.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: You don't have that ball firing.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Through the air with those thugh your mind when you
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: have a rainy, cool, cold day, especially on the serve specifically,
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: because when you get in the serving rhythm. I played
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: you in Geneva a couple of years ago. When you're
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: in that serving rhythm, there's really not much else the
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: opponent can do. So when you get a day like
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: this that's cold, rainy, against a returner like Learner, who's
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: senior serf wants to go a bit further back, how
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: are you able to still stay aggressive on the serve?
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: Because we know your ground game is there that never leaves.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: But the serve is, to me, the biggest differentiator between
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: you having the success in which we've seen and you
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: get a day like this. It's not easier.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: I'm not necessary on a day like this, and especially
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: on slower conditions, I'm not necessarily trying to hit asis
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: all the time time I'm trying to keep my first
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: per percentage high so that I'm kind of an advantage
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: in the rally going forward. Right when I feel like
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I'm the more aggressive person, when I feel like I'm
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the one that's kind of has the ball on the racket,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I'm going to win most of the points from the baseline,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: so that that's kind of the main focus that I have.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: And it was the same when I played Carlos here,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I wasn't going for aces that much. I was kind
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: of trying to dominate the rallies from the baseline. Once
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: he starts dominating, and once the great player starts dominating,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: especially for me for quite a tall guy, it's difficult
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: to come out of that, and I feel like I'm
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: playing defense way more than I want to. So that's
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: maybe the main focus, trying to keep that first surf
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: percentage up rather than hit aces all the time. On
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: this surface, when I go out on a fast, hard quarter,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: when I go out of grass, it obviously changes. But
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: here it's about, you know, having the upper hands early
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: in the rally.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: I've had a hard time focusing because he's wearing one
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of the coolest watches I've ever seen a person of
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: my entire life like I can't. That is to platte
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: number twelve twelve, thirty one, thirty three eight.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: All right, somebody gets this and then the right number
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: was thirty one. Right now, if somebody gets the right
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: number to getting my watch.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, come on thirty three, thirty three, thirty three,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: thirty three.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Thirty one thirty What did you say? Thirty one? I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: just hope it's not thirty one number four? Sorry next time, Alex,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: One thing we've started today is I have a can
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: of balls?
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: All right?
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: What we'd like to offer you? Would you like the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: first sniff? Sure? Yeah, you see the way lights up?
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: TNT has straight insurance, so in case I got my
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: hand open, yes, all.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Right, Alex, it's all yours.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It's not the rolling Garrits ball, is it? Though?
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Describe it as if it's one.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know how to describe it without sound like
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: a junkie.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Where's but if you wouldn't mind signing one or two
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: throwing them out toys?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Croud of course? How long have you too?
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Nooney?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Each other? Forever? Since I saw.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Him hit up against the wall when he was not
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: taller than this table because I played with his brother
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: the juniors.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: You guys, you're a little bit younger than my brother,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: so obviously they played juniors together and I was always
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: walking around.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So what do you remember about her game, about his
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: game back in the day, Well.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I remember I was very annoying if somebody didn't play
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: with me.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: He was always out there. He always wanted to have
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: someone to hit with him. But obviously he's so much
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: younger than his brother, so he wasn't on the same
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: level at that point.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: But I mean, you just knew.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: That he was going to be good because he always
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: was on the court, always working.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: When we heard you were coming over, I could tell
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: she's she was like proud of you, So I'm happy that.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: But I'm very good friends with with her. With Caroline, obviously,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: I'm very good friends with her husband, David, so we're
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: quite close.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Text my husband.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: I away to play golf.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I texted her husband more than her.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: You know, Alex can.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: The mad dash happens. I heard the catch catch.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Thank you, guys, Alex ver, thank you so much, precious,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: thanks for having me