Screenshot of foreign media reports
On January 24, Beijing time, according to Tennishead, ATP former world number one and Swedish star Matz Wieland questioned the German's motives for playing after A-Zverev was swept out of the Australian Open, but still predicted that he would "win a Grand Slam this year".
As the No. 3 seed in the men's singles of this Australian Open, A-Zverev did not lose a set in the first three rounds, however, in the fourth round, the German was swept out by the 14th seed of the tournament, Canadian youngster Shapovalov in three straight sets.
The defeat brought A-Zverev under severe criticism from Germany's greatest ever men's tennis player, Boris Becker, and seven-time men's singles Grand Slam champion Wieland. Becker lashed out at A-Zverev for his "lack of effort", while Wieland felt he would not dominate.
Originally, if the German had defeated Shapovalov, he would have played against 20-time men's singles Grand Slam winner Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals.
A- Zverev in the game
So far, A-Zverev has not won a Grand Slam — the closest he came to a Grand Slam when he reached the final of the U.S. Open in 2020 — but he has revealed his ambitious goal of winning a Grand Slam and surpassing Novak Djokovic to become world Number One.
When asked by Eurosport beauty host Alize Lim (former French women's tennis player, Tony Parker's girlfriend) about the sacrifices players must make, A-Zverev mentioned the financial side of elite sports.
The German replied: "Although it is a sacrifice, it is something I like to do. I can make a lot of money from it and I can use it to live a good life. ”
However, his claim led Wieland to question the German star's motivation and motivation to play.
Speaking to Lim, the Swede said: "I think it's funny when you ask him 'the sacrifice you made on the Tour'. ”
A-Zverev bid farewell to the 2022 Australian Open
"I've really never heard Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic mention money, and Sasha [Zverev] actually mentions 'yeah, get away from home, it's a good job, I'm going to make a lot of money,' and I thought, wow, that's fun."
"Ranking points, champion, I get it. So, I want Sasha to figure out that he just doesn't really want to be [world] number one, but actually, [he] needs to be the best player he can be in his heart, and I don't want to, it's just that he thinks that unconsciously. ”
"Because of Rafa, Roger and Novak, we're used to that. They have set the bar. The three of them set such a high bar that we began to expect that was what you had to do. That's hard to do. Wieland said.
"I think Sasha will find it. He's still going to be [the world's] number one. I think he's going to win a Grand Slam this year. Today (the 23rd) is just not a good day, and we need to figure out why. ”