Fans noted a stark contrast between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev in how they assess their games, shortcomings, and areas for improvement. While the former had a lighthearted approach as he wished to learn from the top two, the German player slammed tournament directors for favoring Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in every way.Zverev, the 24-time ATP Tour singles titlist, who stands at No. 3 in the ATP rankings, ousted Valentin Royer in the Shanghai Masters opening round. Following that, he opened up about the similarity in speed across surfaces and how tournament directors always favor Sinner and Alcaraz for the titles, garnering criticisms from fans for his remarks.On the other hand, Andrey Rublev spoke about his game and how he felt he had reached his ceiling. He also lightheartedly expressed a desire to learn from the top two players to improve and avoid being stuck around the top 20."..Do something similar to what Sinner and Alcaraz are doing. I guess I need to watch more of their matches, then."Noting the contrast between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev's approaches, fans on Reddit lauded the Russian for being appreciative of Sinner and Alcaraz's success. One fan highlighted Rublev's willingness to work on his shortcomings, commenting:"Such a contrast in attitude to Zverev. No sorry excuses or just sitting back. My respect for Andreyy has grown immensely ever since I saw that mini-doc of his on the ATP channel. He is clear about his issues and shortcomings and instead of blaming others, he’s chosen to work on himself and to try and improve upon them."Comment byu/7InchMagic from discussion intennisAnother fan chimed in, saying that Alexander Zverev hasn't shown any willingness to adapt, unlike Rublev:"I agree, but I think it’s clear from this statement that he at least has the insight to know that he SHOULD change his game. Zverev on the other hand doesn’t even seem to be aware of the fact that he needs to adapt. He keeps showing up with the same game every single time and then he acts surprised to get the same results afterwards."Comment byu/7InchMagic from discussion intennisAnother fan also spoke highly of Andrey Rublev for admitting that his game wasn't as good as 'Sincaraz,' rather than placing blame on the duo like Zverev did."So refreshing to see Andrey be the polar opposite of Zverev in his attitude and admit that he’s not playing at Sincaraz level because his game isn’t good enough. It’s never easy to admit your shortcomings (at least in my opinion) but the fact that he’s self-aware enough to be like yeah, I’m being beaten because I need to improve rather than attempting to blame external factors is why he will always have my love and respect. My favourite player."Comment byu/7InchMagic from discussion intennisSome other reactions were:"Rublev directs the blame inwards (saying that his game just hit its ceiling rather than thinking he was better in the past) while Medvedev/Zverev direct the blame outwards (blaming balls/conditions) which is exactly in line with each of their general demeanors on court," a fan tweeted."Zverev will retire a bum," a fan commented.Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev's 2025 seasonAlexander Zverev at the 2025 China Open - Day 8 - (Source: Getty)Andrey Rublev won the Qatar Open title in 2025 and had a couple of stellar runs, reaching the quarterfinals at Los Cabos and the finals of the Hamburg Open. He also had early exits at tournaments like the Australian Open and the outing in Hong Kong.Alexander Zverev claimed his third Munich Open title by defeating American favorite Ben Shelton. His 50th win of the season came at the Cincinnati Open when he trounced Karen Khachanov in the first round.The German also reached the Australian Open final but succumbed to the eventual winner, Jannik Sinner.