His reasoning begins with the Davis Cup. “This year, if I play Davis Cup, we’ll be playing almost until December,” he said. “And if I were to play in the United Cup, I would have to play my first game at the end of December.” Germany captain Michael Kohlmann has named Zverev in the last eight for the Nov. 24-29 finals, along with Jan-Lennard Struff, Kevin Kravitz and Tim Puetz. Germany will face Great Britain in the quarter-finals on November 26.
After clinching the No. 1 seed on Thursday night, Zverev listed three big events still ahead: the Masters, the ATP Finals and Davis Cup. “I still have big goals ahead of me,” he said.
Its improvement is relatively simple. we should play two or three weeks less in the season and have more time.
His correction is short. “Improving it is relatively simple,” Zverev said. “As I have said many times, I think we need to play two or three weeks less in the season and have more time to firstly rest our bodies and secondly to build them up. I’m the kind of person who really likes to do a lot of physical work.” A day earlier, he said he was spending five to six hours a day on fitness during his four-week December block, and an hour or so on tennis.
He reaches No. 1 in a season where his two main rivals spent half on the sidelines. Carlos Alcaraz missed nearly four and a half months between April and August with a wrist injury that cost him Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Sinner has not played since defeating Zverev in the Wimbledon final in July, and ended the season in October due to a knee problem.
His return is scheduled for the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh, December 27-30.
Zverev. “This is the wrong direction for us at the moment.”
Zverev believes that dissatisfaction is spreading. “I think the players are talking about it a bit more now, expressing more displeasure,” he said. “I think it will be more and more. In my opinion, unfortunately, it’s going in the wrong direction for us at the moment.”
Alcaraz used the same words on October 8, two days after defending his Japan Open title. He told Sky Sports that the schedule was “going in the wrong direction” and blamed the ATP for “pushing us too much”, calling it one of the reasons players are getting injured.
The ATP has made changes for 2026. It added a break to the schedule after Wimbledon and reduced the number of mandatory ATP 500 events from five to four. But many Masters 1000 events now run longer, leaving less recovery time between tournaments, and the season still lasts about 11 months.
Zverev’s own run continues in Saturday’s semi-finals in Vienna, and Paris will follow on Tuesday or Wednesday with a first-round highlight against Lorenzo Musetti or Hubert Hurkac.
