WATCH: Alexander Zverev unleashes expletive-laden rant in frustration over Lorenzo Musetti's tactic at Italian Open

Alexander Zverev had a moment of frustration during his clash with Lorenzo Musetti at the 2025 Italian Open. The catalyst for the German's outburst was the quality of the balls in use at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Aiming to successfully defend his title in Rome, Zverev squared off against Musetti in the quarterfinals. Although the German held four set points in the first set, he failed to capitalize on any of them as Musetti forced a tiebreak and won the opener 7-6(1).

The match then took a controversial turn at 2-1 in the second set, as Alexander Zverev sent a ball into the hands of one of the tournament officials and launched into an expletive-laden tirade about their quality. He also expressed frustration with Lorenzo Musetti's tactic to have a deep court position on return, blaming it on the "kids balls."

"Look at it. It’s impossible to play tennis with this sh*t if this is entertaining tennis I don’t know what the f**k we’re doing. I’m tired of this. We're playing with f**king kids balls nowadays. No wonder the guy is f**king six feet behind the baseline," Zverev complained.

After the umpire chastised Zverev for his language, the 28-year-old asserted that he would take a code violation warning as he continued complaining about the balls.

"I don’t care, give me a warning, you cannot hit a winner of the ground with these balls. We used to play with these balls at 8 years old," he said.

Zverev: “We’re playing with f****** kids balls nowadays…. No wonder the guy is f****** six feet behind the baseline.” byu/theriverjordan intennis

Lorenzo Musetti appeared unfazed by Alexander Zverev's outburst and went on to claim a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory in two hours and 15 minutes.

"Balls were a joke today" - Alexander Zverev lays bare his frustration after Italian Open exit

Alexander Zverev - Source: Getty

Alexander Zverev elaborated on his complaints about the balls in use at the Italian Open in his post-match press conference, disclosing that many players had been discussing the recurring issue. The German pointed out the difficulty of playing with a new ball in Rome after getting used to playing with the same ball in his past three tournaments.

"Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time. They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days," Alexander Zverev said.

Zverev also said that the new balls were particularly detrimental to his aggressive playing style, as they prevented him from getting any free points on his serve.

"Of course, for me, for my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today," he added.

Alexander Zverev is set to drop down to World No. 3 after failing to defend his title at the Italian Open. Consequently, Carlos Alcaraz will surpass him to become the second seed at the French Open, which begins on May 25.