Alexander Zverev fired back at comments made about whether he deserves to be the World number two.
The German regained the position from Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard missed the Madrid Open due to injury.
After reaching the third round in the Spanish capital this season, Zverev holds a slender 235-point lead over the four-time Grand Slam champion.
Therefore he will enter the Italian Open as the number two seed behind Jannik Sinner, who is going to play his first tournament since January now his three-month doping ban is over.
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Alexander Zverev took time to defend his World number two running soon after Rennae Stubbs shared her thoughts on the topic.
She used her podcast to say she does not believe that the 27-year-old deserves this ranking spot given his poor form of late, excluded his Munich Open victory.
But ahead of the Italian Open where he is the defending champion, Zverev hit back at those comments and used Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz to reinforce his point.
“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn’t play great tennis before Munich,” Zverev told the reporters.
Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images
“All of a sudden I’m like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don’t deserve to be there. I’m there because I won tournaments. I’m there because I have results. The ranking system doesn’t lie.
“You get points for winning matches, you get points for winning titles. Yes, I know I didn’t play up to my standard. I know I didn’t play up to what I wanted to do. But neither did Carlos. Then he won Monte-Carlo.
“There are periods in a player’s career… Do you think Novak is happy with his results? Do you think Carlos is happy with his results? I’m not happy with my results.
“At the end of the day in big matches, big moments, I still believe the top players will rise. And I still believe that I am going to find my tennis for the biggest tournaments.”
Photo by Tullio Puglia/Getty ImagesAlexander Zverev aims to defend Italian Open title
Zverev would love nothing more than to provide any detractors wrong by defending the Italian Open title.
Winning this title in 2024 meant it was Zverev’s first at Masters 1000 level for three years, and he plans on succeeding at the Foro Italico once again.
Zverev has struggled for form this season but he gained some confidence after winning the Munich Open and he will aim to replicate that form in the Italian capital.
“All in all I thought my level of tennis was okay [in Madrid],” Zverev said. “I thought I played three pretty good matches there. Also winning Munich the week before… I feel like my tennis is at the right spot right now.
“I feel confident here. I really like the place, so I hope I can play as well as last year and win a lot of matches.”