Alexander Zverev claimed his fourth career Masters 1000 in Madrid—and offered blunt assessment of home media response.
Zverev scored a 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Matteo Berrettini to capture his 15th career championship at the Mutua Madrid Open, then met the media in a post-final presser initially conducted in English.
More: Zverev Wins Fourth Masters Title in Madrid
When the moderator asked for questions in German, there were none.
"None? I just won a Masters and there's none in German?" Zverev said. "As you see, the Germans really don't care."
Though perhaps Zverev shouldn't take the silence personally. Hubert Hurkacz defeated Italian phenom Jannik Sinner to win the Miami Open title and was met with silence at his next Masters presser in Monte-Carlo.
Still, Zverev celebrated a sensational week that saw him knock off king of clay Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, avenge his 2020 US Open final loss to Dominic Thiem in the semifinals then rally past Masters final debutant Berrettini with a powerful performance over the final two sets.
"I think, look, it's extremely important. I think the clay court season, also to do well at the French Open, you need to be playing well during the clay court season," Zverev said. "That is in a way important for me, as well.
"At the end of the day I won a Masters. There's really very little in terms of bigger than this one right here. I'm happy. I'm happy with this achievement. Obviously, yeah, I look forward to the next few weeks. I look forward to what's ahead."
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve