‘Awful’ – Alexander Zverev delivers brutal assessment of Australian Open exit

Alexander Zverev has branded his performance against Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open ‘awful.’

The world number three was strongly fancied to at least make the final in Melbourne, but he crashed out in the fourth round in a dismal straight sets defeat.

It was a defeat that brutally ended his dreams of winning his first major and leaving Australia on top of the world rankings.

Asked what had gone wrong against Shapovalov, Zverev said: “To be honest, there is not much I can say or take away that was positive from today.

“Maybe since Wimbledon, one of the worst matches I have played. It’s just tough.

“Obviously, I give credit to Denis. It’s incredible he’s in the quarters. I think he deserves it. He’s done a lot of work. He’s improved his game.

“But I’ve got to look at myself, as well. Today was just, in my opinion, awful from my side.”

The defeat, especially given the nature of it, was arguably the biggest shock in the Australian Open men’s draw so far, but Alexander Zverev said it didn’t particularly surprise him.

“I was playing bad the whole week,” Zverev said. “To be honest, I didn’t think I was playing that great.

“Except against John Millman (in the second round) maybe I had a good match, but the other two matches weren’t great either.

“It’s very different also playing during the day and during the night here. I think that didn’t help me in a way, as well.

“There is no excuses. At the end of the day, I’ve got to do better. I came here with a goal to win, and maybe to become No.1 and all that.

“But if I play like that, I don’t deserve it. It’s as simple as that.

“After a match like this, it’s very silly to talk about it (aspiring to be world number one). I think I need to figure myself out first.”

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