"It's no one else's fault; At the end of the day, as the World No. 3, I have to take responsibility for the things I do and don't do" - Alexander Zverev
In a press conference after his exit from the 2022 Australian Open, Alexander Zverev admitted that it was neither his coach's nor his team's fault. Rather, the World No. 3 took complete responsibility for the defeat.
Denis Shapovalov stunned the tennis world by beating Zverev in straight sets in the fourth round of the Melbourne Slam. Enjoying a first-serve win percentage of 77%, the Canadian won the match 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3.
Zverev accepted that except for his match against John Millman, he didn't play great tennis at Melbourne Park
"I was playing bad the whole week. To be honest, I didn't think I was playing that great. Except against John Millman maybe I had a good match, but the other two matches weren't great either," said Zverev.
"It's no one else's fault. It's not the coach's fault, it's not my team's fault, it's no one else's fault. It's purely me. At the end of the day, as the world No. 3, I have to take responsibilities for the things I do and don't do. Today was, yeah, was just not good enough to beat someone like Denis," added the World No. 3.
Zverev also gave credit to Shapovalov for his "incredible" performance, stating that the Canadian "deserves" to be in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
"I mean, look, I obviously, I give credit to Denis. It's incredible he's in the quarters. I think he deserves it. He's done a lot of work. He's improved his game. But I've got to look at myself, as well," mentioned Zverev.
Shapovalov will face World No. 5 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Melbourne Slam on Tuesday.
"I came here with a goal to win, and maybe to become No. 1. But if I play like that, I don't deserve it" - Alexander Zverev
In the same press conference, Zverev opined that he doesn't deserve the World No. 1 ranking if he continues to play the way he played against Shapovalov. The German stressed that he has "got to do better" in the future.
"At the end of the day, I've got to do better. I came here with a goal to win, and maybe to become No. 1 and all that. But if I play like that, I don't deserve it. It's as simple as that," stated Zverev.
Following his fourth-round exit in Melbourne, Alexander Zverev will drop 190 points in the ATP rankings and will remain World No. 3 for now.
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