Alexander Zverev restera dans l'Histoire comme le tout dernier vainqueur du Rolex Paris Masters à Bercy. Ce dimanche, celui qui sera deuxième joueur mondial lundi a été impitoyable envers le chouchou du public, Ugo Humbert. Intraitable au service mais aussi dans l'échange, "Sascha" a dicté sa loi tout au long du match pour s'offrir le tout dernier Bercy. Tout un symbole puisque Boris Becker avait été le premier à remporter le tournoi, en 1986. Zverev confirme sa belle saison et valide sa deuxième place mondiale lundi avec un sixième titre en Masters 1000, le premier titre en France depuis février 2017 à Montpellier.
Photo / Vidéo : @TennisActu / @RolexParisMasters
Photo / Vidéo : @TennisActu / @RolexParisMasters
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00:00How satisfied were you of your level today and would you look forward for the next couple
00:10of weeks and the Turin ETO ATP finals?
00:14I mean, look, I have won a Masters so I'm obviously very happy about that and especially
00:19I think today in the final I played a pretty good match, I think solid from the start till
00:24the end.
00:25I mean, I'm looking forward to one last tournament in Turin this year and hopefully I can finish
00:32the season strong.
00:37Sash, congratulations.
00:38Please don't tell us you were at practice now.
00:40Yeah, I was.
00:41You were?
00:42Now?
00:43I just finished.
00:44Amazing.
00:45As you set out some ambitious goals for next year, are there any benchmarks that you foresee?
00:52Result wise?
00:53No, result wise, no.
00:56For me, I think I have goals for sure.
00:59I think the goals are quite obvious for everyone, but for me right now it's about improving
01:06my game and then the results, I will let the results come to me.
01:12I cannot force the results.
01:15I didn't come here this week thinking about, oh, I for sure want to win this tournament.
01:19No, I want to improve.
01:20I want to get better and I want to improve my game.
01:23So that's what I'm doing and that's what I'm trying to do every day.
01:29Sasha, did you get any sense at the very beginning that this was going to be, as I can see you
01:38through the tree, that this was going to be a relatively comfortable day?
01:45No match is obviously easy, but it's certainly more comfortable than the previous two matches
01:49you played against him?
01:51I mean, no, I didn't have a feeling that it was going to be two and two, but actually
01:56from the start and from the rallies in the first games, even when I lost the rallies,
02:02I felt like the ball was quite well in my racket.
02:06And when I have this feeling, I feel well on the court.
02:08I feel comfortable and confident, maybe being a bit more aggressive, going for more shots
02:14than I usually do.
02:16And against him it was important.
02:18I think he's one of the best players when he's aggressive.
02:21I think he's maybe struggling a bit still when he has to defend.
02:26So when I put him in a position where he has to defend, I think that's a position where
02:30I'm comfortable and he's not.
02:32So yeah, I felt great off the back of the court and I think against him that was the
02:39key today.
02:40Congratulations, Sacha.
02:45Sometimes it's tough to play against lefty, left-handed players.
02:49I don't know if you like it or not, but it was your 26th consecutive victory against
02:54a lefty.
02:55Did you know that?
02:56And do you know the last time that you lost against a left-handed player?
03:00It was almost two years ago, just at the beginning when you came back on the tour.
03:03I think Davis Cup, right?
03:05Against Switzerland.
03:06Yeah.
03:07And then I was still coming back, so I could have lost to anyone.
03:10But yeah, I mean, I knew that.
03:14So for sure, I mean, lefties for me are maybe more natural than for others, because I obviously
03:22grew up with my brother who was a lefty.
03:23So this is all I kind of practiced with when I was young.
03:28So for me, obviously, maybe the top spins, maybe the slice serves and everything like
03:32that, I'm maybe more used to it.
03:34But still, lefties can be tricky.
03:36But everybody else can as well.
03:38Anyone else?
03:44Sascha, just coming back to your practice session, after such a final, did you work
03:48on a specific thing a few minutes ago?
03:51And would you say what and when is your next practice session?
03:56Wednesday.
03:59But yeah, for me, the result, it's great.
04:03And I'm extremely satisfied and I'm happy about that.
04:05But as I said in the beginning of the week, for me, I want to improve some things for
04:09me to achieve my really big goals.
04:12And I'm happy with the final.
04:15I'm happy with the tournament.
04:16Of course, I'm sitting here with a trophy from a Masters 1000 event.
04:20But there's still some things that I want to improve.
04:22And this is a process of a few months.
04:24And I'm improving for next year already, hopefully.
04:28Sascha, congratulations.
04:31You won two times the finals.
04:35So it's a tournament that you like.
04:40Which will be most important in Turin?
04:43The physical condition, the mental condition?
04:45Because the season is very long, it's very demanding.
04:48And so it's important to find the balance between body and mind.
05:01I think for Turin, everybody becomes motivated.
05:04It's such a special tournament.
05:05It's such a special atmosphere and feeling when you're there and only eight players in
05:09the world are there.
05:10So you feel special already playing there.
05:11So I think everybody's motivated.
05:13Everybody wants to win this title and play good tennis.
05:16So I think that's not the case.
05:18Maybe the later tournaments in the season, which are normal tournaments, there maybe
05:24some players are a bit more tired, maybe lacking motivation a bit.
05:28I think in Turin, once you made that tournament, you're fighting all year to make the cut there.
05:34So I think once you're there, you're going to give it your best and everybody else will
05:39as well.
05:40And at the end of the day, you're only playing the best eight players in the world.
05:44So there's no easy matches and you have to play your best tennis from the first match
05:48on.
05:49Good evening, Sascha, and congratulations.
05:52You played a lot of matches this year.
05:53I think it was your 66th victory today.
05:56Are you going to be a bit more selective in the tournaments you play next year?
05:59Because you said that you really wanted to win a first Grand Slam.
06:02In order to achieve that, do you have to play less matches and to focus really on the big
06:06tournaments?
06:07Do I?
06:08I don't know.
06:12I think every player is different.
06:14Every player has his own way.
06:16For me, I mean, I played all the Masters events, which I will play next year as well, for sure.
06:22I think the biggest tournament that HP has.
06:26I will hopefully play all the Grand Slams.
06:29And then, you know, there's not that many tournaments that I played, actually.
06:32There's only very selective tournaments that I played.
06:33Of course, with the Olympics this year, two tournaments came along, which were more, I
06:38mean, with Hamburg and Olympics.
06:40But apart from that, I didn't play that extremely much.
06:43You know, after the Australian Open, I took a month off.
06:46I only played two tournaments in Mexico before the Masters events.
06:49Then, you know, on clay, I played only Munich outside the Masters events.
06:53So it's not like I'm playing every single week and I'm chasing points.
06:57On grass, I played one tournament before Wimbledon.
07:00You know, after the U.S. Open, I played only Shanghai, Vienna, and here.
07:04So it's not like I'm playing every single week.
07:08I've won a lot of matches, which is beneficial.
07:11Everybody wants to win a lot of matches, but I wouldn't say I played a lot of tournaments
07:15this year.
07:16Anyone else?
07:17Last one?
07:18Last?
07:19Sascha, what's bigger for you, winning a major or getting to number one for the first
07:27time?
07:28That's a very good question.
07:34I honestly believe that in tennis these days, it comes hand in hand.
07:39I don't think, I think it's very difficult to be world number one without winning a slam.
07:44I had the chance in 2022 if I would have not gotten injured.
07:48So that's rare because there was still special occasions.
07:50There was obviously, Novak didn't play a lot of events because he wasn't vaccinated.
07:56Rafa started the year very strong and then got a bit hurt.
07:59Medvedev got hurt as well.
08:01He had back surgery that year.
08:02So it was, you know, a weird year.
08:05It was not like everybody was playing all the tournaments and they were in full strength
08:09all the tournaments.
08:10So it was different.
08:11But I think now when everybody's playing and everybody's playing at full strength and everybody's
08:16healthy, you have to win Grand Slams to become world number one.
08:20I'm world number two now, but I'm what, 3,000 points away from Janik, right?
08:24It's more or less, maybe more even.
08:28I think without the Grand Slams or without the points of the Grand Slams, it's not possible
08:32anymore.