Alexander Zverev spoke candidly about his struggles with his game after suffering a surprise defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round of the 2025 US Open.
The world No 3, who some regard as the best player not to win a Grand Slam title in ATP history, fell to a 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 4-6 loss to 27th-ranked Auger-Aliassime in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Zverev arrived at the US Open after reaching back-to-back semi-finals at Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati, and he saw off Alejandro Tabilo and Jacob Fearnley without dropping a set in the first two rounds.
This form looked to have given Zverev a good platform to make a deep run at Flushing Meadows, and he held a 6-2 record against Auger-Aliassime prior to this encounter.
But, while the three-time major finalist had a point to take a 2-0 lead in sets against the 25-year-old Canadian, he was outplayed by the former world No 6.
Zverev’s third round exit in New York means he is the first ATP player ranked in the top three to lose in the first week at two successive majors since Rafael Nadal in 2005. The German fell in the opening round at Wimbledon last month.
In his press conference with German media, Zverev was critical of his displays at the last two editions of the New York Grand Slam.
“I think I’ve played badly here for the last two years,” declared the 28-year-old.
Last year, I won my matches, but the matches I won were laborious, they weren’t really pretty, they were won more through hard work than good tennis.
“And as soon as I played against a good player, I think last year it was Taylor in the quarter-finals, this year it was Felix in the third round, I immediately lost the match.
“To sum it up, I played too passively, but I played too passively because I simply had nothing in my racket, really nothing at all.
“I have no feel for my forehand, no feel for my backhand, and then I tried to be aggressive a few times and the ball flew somewhere and then that’s just how it is.”
Zverev also confirmed he was troubled by the back issue he discussed earlier in the tournament, but he refused to use this ailment as an excuse for his loss.
“Yes, I think the back, well, the back does have something to do with the serve, but I think in general everyone served much softer than they normally do here,” Zverev said.
“I think it has something to do with the balls, but that’s not the reason why I lost. I lost because I really played badly, and that’s just the way it is.
“Yes, the back pain won’t go away until I get an injection. I’ll be getting that at some point. But again, that’s not the reason.”
