Alexander Zverez joked that he doesn’t want to see Taylor Fritz again for a few years as he gave a sweary reaction to losing the BOSS Open final to his rival in Stuttgart. The American secured his fourth ATP Tour title on grass with an emphatic 6-3, 7-6(0) victory.
Fritz produced an excellent performance and refused to let the weather disruptions put an end to his unrelenting rhythm as he gradually wore Zverez down. He avoided a single break point in the entire match as a result, winning 88 per cent of his first-serve points.
The win sees Fritz extend his record to 8-5 against Zverev, and the latter joked that he is growing tired of being beaten by his rival, having lost all five of their most recent meetings. Speaking after his defeat, the world No. 3 joked: “Last but not least, Taylor, I’m f****** tired of you.
“I don’t wanna see you again over the next two to three years. Please stay away from me. Don’t come to Germany anymore. No, well done you deserve to win this title. You are one of the best players in the world on this surface and you were much better than me today, so congrats to the whole team and I’m sure you are going to do incredible on the next two tournaments on grass, so well done.”
The camera then panned to Fritz, who laughed along with his rival as he composed himself for his post-match speech. He then went on to say: “I’m really happy. I’ve said it a couple of times this week, after a not-so-great clay season, to come here and start the grass season perfectly, I’m super happy with how I played and super happy to get the title, and do it here.
“I don’t know how much time I’m going to have to celebrate as I have doubles tomorrow, in London at Queen’s. I’ve got to get over there.”
Speaking after his win against Ben Shelton in the semi-finals, Zverev hinted that he is happy with how he is preparing for Wimbledon which begins in a fortnight’s time, saying: “I got everything I wanted out of the week.”
He has only ever reached the four round of the grass-court Grand Slam previously and will be hoping to go one better this year. He will be especially keen to avoid coming up against Fritz again.
