Alcaraz and Sinner at an advantage? Federer and Zverev criticize almost always the same court conditions
While Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are dominating the tour, Alexander Zverev is not getting up to speed. After his early exit in Shanghai, criticism of the court conditions is voiced - Federer intervenes.
06.10.2025, 20:36
06.10.2025, 22:09
dpa
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- Zverev's early exit in Shanghai is accompanied by his criticism of the increasingly uniform court conditions in professional tennis.
- Roger Federer also complains that the homogeneity of the surfaces gives players like Alcaraz and Sinner an advantage.
Alexander Zverev was eliminated in the third round of the Masters tournament in Shanghai. The Hamburg native lost to Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6:4, 3:6, 2:6 despite leading the set and thus suffered the next setback in what has been a disappointing tennis year for him. After 2:14 hours, the defeat of the completely exhausted 28-year-old was sealed.
The world number three, who has been complaining about back problems for weeks, also failed to take advantage of Carlos Alcaraz's absence and Jannik Sinner's defeat due to injury. World number 1 Alcaraz did not play the hard-court event; last year's number two seed Jannik Sinner had to withdraw from his third-round duel due to a thigh injury.
The two exceptional players dominate the tennis scene. The points gap between Sinner and Zverev is greater than the gap between the German and the world number 50.
For tennis legend Boris Becker, the supremacy of Alcaraz and Sinner is not a particularly good sign. "There is indeed a clear dominance of Alcaraz and Sinner over the rest of the players at the moment. I don't really understand why that is! Every player needs to take a good look at themselves and improve," said the six-time Grand Slam tournament winner.
Zverev and Federer criticize conditions
Zverev was asked about the conditions of the courts in China. "I hate it when the speed of play is the same on all courts. And I know that the tournament directors are going in that direction, because of course they want Sinner and Alcaraz to do well at every tournament," said the German.
"In the past, we always had different surfaces, you couldn't play tennis the same way on grass, hard court and clay court. Nowadays, you can play almost the same way on every surface," complains the 2021 Olympic champion.
Roger Federer also recently said on Andy Roddick's podcast that Sinner and Alcaraz would benefit from slow courts. The tournament directors would see a slower court as a kind of safety net, the Swiss believes.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner argues that slower courts make it more difficult to win against such top players - a weaker opponent has to hit extremely good shots in order to survive.
Federer criticizes the fact that all surfaces are very similar these days and the game is losing variety as a result. "That's why you win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open and can always play the same way." In fact, Alcaraz and Sinner have faced each other in the past three Grand Slam finals.
He would like to see the two dominators fight their duel on both lightning-fast and super-slow courts. "In the past, only twelve tournaments counted towards the world rankings, so everyone played on their favorite surface," Federer recalled. "And sometimes you just met each other. Those were the best matches - when the attacker played against the defender."
Sinner himself dryly commented on Zverev's statements in Shanghai: "Carlos and I don't do the courts." The South Tyrolean continued(via Eurosport): "We always try to adapt to the conditions. For me, the courts still feel slightly different every week." He has also played excellent tennis on faster surfaces.
