The question came from a reporter who wondered if criticism of the record had given him extra motivation. Zverev asked to answer first and went through defeats one by one.
“Six of them were against Jannik. So can we take him out? He’s a robot, not a human. So cut six. One against Carlos, that’s seven, right? And the other two, I’m not sure who they are.”
He then pointed to his record for the rest of the pitch in Turin. “If you look at the record against the players here, who are now the top eight players in the world, I have a 6-2 record against everybody.” (ATP record backs that up: 6-2 this season against the other seven qualifiers through Sunday, with losses to Alcaraz and Flavio Cobolli and 6-1 without Alcaraz).
The ATP record pretty much proves him right. In 2026, Zverev is indeed 3-9 against top-10 opponents if you count his Leverkusen loss to Alex de Minaur, but five of those losses came to the Blues, not six; Semi-finals in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo, then the finals in Madrid and Wimbledon. Alcaraz, who defeated him in five sets in the Australian Open semifinals, is 0-6 against the top two. He is 3-3 against the rest of the top 10, and the other losses were three, not two, to Taylor Fritz in Halle and De Minaur in the Lever Cup and Vienna. Those numbers don’t include Sunday’s win over Jodar.
Zverev vs. Sinner and Alcaraz in 2026: 0-6
| rank | Player: | Country: | Result: | Unit: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: |
|
 |
L: | 4-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 5-7 |
| 2: |
 |
 |
L: | 2-6, 4-6 |
| 2: |
|
|
L: | 3-6, 6-7(4) |
| 2: |
|
|
L: | 1-6, 4-6 |
| 1: |
|
|
L: | 1-6, 2-6 |
| 1: |
|
|
L: | 7-6(7), 6-7(2), 3-6, 4-6 |
Ranking: The current ATP ranking of the opponent. Source: ATP.
Zverev vs. the rest of the top 10 in 2026 is 3-3
| rank | Player: | Country: | Result: | Unit: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 |
 |
 |
L: | 7-6(4), 4-6, 5-7 |
| 7:00 |
|
|
V: | 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 |
| 9:00 |
 |
|
V: | 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 |
| 9:00 |
 |
 |
L: | 6-2, 6-7(5), 9-11 |
| 9:00 |
|
|
V: | 6-4, 6-4 |
| 10:00 |
|
|
L: | 4-6, 6-1, 6-7(4) |
Ranking: The current ATP ranking of the opponent. Source: ATP. Ahead of Sunday’s win over Rafael Jodar in Turin.
Zverev vs. Turin 2026 qualifiers (without Alcaraz: 6-1):
| rank | Player: | Country: | Result: | Unit: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:00 |
 |
|
V: | 6-3, 6-4 |
| 32:00 |
 |
 |
V: | 6-2, 6-3 |
| 16:00 |
 |
|
L: | 3-6, 3-6 |
| 13:00 |
|
|
V: | 6-1, 6-4 |
| 29:00 |
 |
|
V: | 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-3 |
| 14:00 |
|
|
V: | 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 |
| 9:00 |
|
|
V: | 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 |
Ranking: The current ATP ranking of the opponent. Source: ATP. There are no matches with Daniil Medvedev in the current season. Ahead of Sunday’s win over Rafael Jodar in Turin.
“That’s a noise you hear from the side”
When asked if the numbers made him participate in the tournament, Zverev said no.
He also explained why he thinks the figure says little. “The top 10 has changed so much this year,” he said, adding that “we’ve got a new generation, a new wave of players, and this year they all went from 20, 25 in the world to the top 10. So I think the ranking just changed a lot.”
Zverev, a two-time ATP Finals champion (2018, 2021), held all 10 of his service games against Djodar and saved both break points he faced. Meanwhile, Siner was injured after Wimbledon.