Alexander Zverev got the monkey off his back after he lifted his first major title at the French Open. The German had defeated Flavio Cobolli in a five-set thriller in the final of Roland Garros to finally win his first Slam.
Zverev continued his rich form at Wimbledon, qualifying for the final but could not cross the last hurdle against World No.1 Jannik Sinner.
Meanwhile, Zverev is currently the World No.3 in the PIF ATP rankings. While Jannik Sinner is at the top of the rankings tree with 13450 official points, Zverev with 8120 points is hot on the heels of second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who has 8160 points.
“Of course, that’s a goal. That’s definitely a goal of mine,” Zverev said in his pre-tournament press conference of the Canadian Open. “I think still playing the best tennis possible should always be the number one goal because then the results will follow. Winning tournaments will follow. Rankings will follow.
“So as long as you focus on improving yourself, improving your game and trying to play your best, I think that everything else is just something that will follow after that.”
Meanwhile, Zverev has a 4-11 Win-Loss record against Jannik Sinner as the Italian has dominated the German on the tour.
Speaking on his rivalry against Sinner, Zverev said, “I think we’ve played each other the most out of anybody on tour, but [also] because I feel like we’ve gotten to each other more times than not this year, which is also positive,” he said. “It’s not a positive that I keep losing to the same guy, or I have lost to the same guy multiple times, but I think it definitely shows that we were probably the two most stable players on tour this year, and that’s a positive, I think.”
Zverev admitted winning his first Major in Paris was a huge satisfaction for him.
“I’ve talked about it a lot — It’s a satisfaction, for sure,” the 25-time tour-level titlist said of his Paris triumph. “I’ve waited for that Grand Slam title a very long time, in a way, and of course I’m very happy that it came.”
Zverev will begin his Canadian Open campaign against Italian Lorenzo Sonego or Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
