Alexander Zverev survived a tough match against Borna Coric in the quarter-finals of the US Open 2020. He had a bad start but recovered to win 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), 6 -1. While Zverev played, women’s tennis greats Martina Navratilova said the German star would not win against top players with such performances.
He used the term “Pat-A-Cake tennis” to describe Zverev’s game. Although Zverev did not understand this at first, he was not happy when someone explained to him what it meant. He then strongly responded to Navratilova.
Zverev’s gameplay of putting the ball back into play didn’t impress Navratilova one bit, and that’s how he called it “Pat-A-Cake tennis”. Zverev definitely struggled to overtake Coric and didn’t play his best tennis.
Alexander Zverev replies to Martina Navratilova
Zverev responded to Navratilova, saying the 18-time Grand Slam winner should take a look at his record against some of the best players, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in particular.
“Maybe he should look at my record against the greats. Maybe it should feel like I’m positive against Roger and maybe it should feel like I’ve beaten Novak on multiple occasions in major and final matches,“Zverev responded, in his post-match interaction.
Zverev said that victory is important at the end of the day. “And I’m in the semifinals. And sometimes not playing your best and finding a way is more important than playing your best,“He continued.
The 24-year-old later said that Navratilova’s opinion doesn’t matter to him.
“But she is also a Grand Slam champion, more Grand Slam champion, she is respected, but her opinion right now doesn’t interest me.”
Excellent chance to win the US Open 2020
Zverev beat Novak Djokovic twice in his career. One such victory was in the ATP Finals title match in 2018. He had also beaten Roger Federer in the semifinals of the same tournament. Additionally, Sascha also defeated Roger on three other occasions.
Alexander Zverev is now one of the favorites to win the 2020 US Open, especially after Novak Djokovic’s exit from the tournament. Two of his biggest rivals, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev, are in the other half of the draw.
Zverev is in his second Grand Slam semifinal. He had reached the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year, where he lost to Thiem in four sets.
