Alexander Zverev: 'Roger and Serena did not take easy on each other'
The world no. 4 Alexander Zverev has had a challenging campaign in Perth so far, edging David Ferrer in the first singles match and losing a set against Lucas Pouille on Wednesday as well before producing a 6-3 6-7 6-2 win that secured the overall win for Germany over France and kept them in the chase for the place in the final. The German fought off seven out of eight break points to keep the pressure on his rival and he fought well to earn the win in over two hours after four breaks he made. Working with his new coach Amelie Mauresmo, Lucas showed some signs of improvements compared to 2018 and he gave his best to stay in touch with the better-ranked opponent, saving a match point in the second set tie break before losing the edge in the second part of the final set, dropping the last five games to hand the win to his rival.
After the match, Zverev praised Pouille's effort and he was pleased with the fact he was tested again, hoping for more tough matches before heading to Melbourne where he will compete in the first Grand Slam of the season. In addition, he had some nice words for his next rival Matthew Ebden and he also spoke about that great mixed doubles match between Switzerland and the USA, with Roger Federer and Serena Williams stealing the show in the battle of the 43-time singles Grand Slam champions!
"Yeah, it was a great match. Lucas fought really well in the important moments sometimes, he is a very tough opponent and I think he is going to do well at the Australian Open. I wish him nothing but the best and I also want to thank the crowd for showing up today, I thought you have something better to do on a Wednesday morning but you came to watch tennis and we all appreciate that, thank you very much. Playing longer matches before a Grand Slam always helps, you want to compete in tough matches against the best rivals before heading to Slam and I'm happy to get those two matches under my belt, hopefully, we can play a few more here.
I just hope to keep going with Angie and we will see what else we can do. I practiced with Matthew Ebden a few times before, he is from Perth and I will not get mad if you guys don't support me on Friday, that's fine. But yeah, he is a great guy, I'm looking forward to that night match and that's going to be entertaining as well. I did watch the mixed doubles match between Roger and Serena, they did not take easy on each other. Maybe Serena told Frances to.. I don't know, it was a nice match, intense, Roger got the ball in his face which was funny, everything else is history."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2CM7jWF
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