Why Alexander Zverev thinks his preparation for the Monte-Carlo Masters could work in his favour

Alexander Zverev heads into Monte Carlo with plenty of reason to feel good about his game after a steady start to the season.

But this upcoming stretch could be pivotal if he wants to take the next step and finally break through at Grand Slam level.

Zverev has had a remarkable career, but there’s still one major milestone left to cross off: a Grand Slam title. He’s got every reason to believe Roland Garros gives him the best shot at getting it done.

His build-up hasn’t gone as planned, though. Despite that, Zverev believes the lack of preparation could actually work in his favour.

Zverev missed out on the Hamburg and Munich events due to commitments with Team8, an athlete management company founded by Roger Federer and Tony Godsick. With several players now represented by Team8, more such situations may arise in the future.

Zverev remains optimistic despite his limited practice time, arguing that staying fresh might help him through what is expected to be another long clay-court season.

Zverev explains why a lack of preparation might be a positive for Monte Carlo

Speaking to the media, he began by rating his performances during the Sunshine Swing.

Zverev began by claiming: “I mean, it was I feel like quite positive, of course. I would have loved to win an event.

“I feel like in Miami especially, I played really good tennis, and the match with Jannik was maybe closer than the score suggested. I had my chances in the second set, but, you know, he won both tournaments; he was playing unbelievable tennis, best player in the world, for sure, on a hard court at the moment, and he deserved everything.”

Then discussing his tennis in general, having made a conscious shift towards adding aggression to his game. He added: “Just the things that I worked on, I feel like they’re kind of paying off.

“Obviously yeah I’ve been more of an aggressive style a bit taking on the game myself and I feel like yeah in those regards they were quite positive weeks.

Of course getting a win in the end would have been nice but it is how it is sometimes and we move forward we’re on clay now we’re in Monte Carlo and I hope to play good tennis here as well.”

Zverev concluded by noting his lack of preparation for this event: “Yeah so I took three days off and then started training Tuesday afternoon here in Monte Carlo. You know we’re all getting ready for this tournament, of course, you don’t have much time.

But you know that’s a positive thing because that means you played well in Miami and played well during some tournaments leading up to this event. And then after that, we’re all getting ready again, hopefully showing good tennis here.”

This will be Sinner’s third year competing at this tournament. On both previous occasions – 2021 and 2022 – Alcaraz reached only as far as round three before being knocked out.

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