World No. 3 Alexander Zverev has credited Roger Federer for his come from behind five-set victory over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.
Zverev, who is one of the favourites to lift the trophy in the French capital alongside defending champion Rafael Nadal, was in deep trouble as he trailed his Serbian rival by two sets to one before making a remarkable turnaround to eventually claim a 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win.
And he gave credit to Federer’s advice, which he received from the great man while the two were competing in Australia in January. Revealing his conversation with the Swiss legend, Zverev said Federer had encouraging words to say about his game.
“He said some encouraging things,” Zverev said.
“He told me a story about how he never made it past quarters until he was, what, 23 years old or something like that. So I still have a little bit of time.
“Hearing that from the greatest player of all time is, you know, comforting, because you always think, Oh, if I’m not going to win this one, I’m never going to win one.
“And he’s the greatest player of all time. He’s never passed a quarter until he was 23. Just hearing that, just knowing that it’s all okay, it’s not the end of the world.
“So, I mean, obviously that was a long time ago and I played great tennis since then. Maybe I have to give credit to him.”
The German was asked if Roland Garros could become a turning point in his career to which he replied: “Look, everybody tries to make a bigger story out of it than it is. I have had great success on the ATP Tour, as you said. Won three Masters, made two other finals this year. I’m not worried. I know if I’m doing the right things and if I do the right work I’ll win those long matches, and the success will come itself. This is not something I think of on a daily basis.”
“But, yeah, hopefully I can win a few more matches here. I have a tough opponent next round. As I said, I’m just going to go match by match here.”
