Spiegel Sport1 hour agoSports2 min readGermany

Tennis: Alexander Zverev accuses Becker of saying “a lot of nonsense”.

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Alexander Zverev has sharply rejected Boris Becker's statements that he is not popular in Germany despite his successes.
After his exit in Paris, Zverev said that Becker said a lot of nonsense and was looking for ways to put him down.
Zverev has been the German number one in the world rankings since Monday.

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Why It Matters

Alexander Zverev is the new German number one in the world rankings and became the first male German tennis professional since Boris Becker to take over the top spot. Becker has accompanied Zverev for years and commented in a SPIEGEL interview about their conflict-free relationship.

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Alexander Zverev sharply countered Boris Becker's statements that the German number one in the tennis world does not appear to be that popular despite his current successes.

»I think that, as always, he says a lot of nonsense. I don't know what's going on with him right now, but I have the feeling that he has to comment on everything I do," said Zverev after his exit in the second round of the Masters tournament in Paris. “I think he's looking for anything to get me down a bit at the moment. He can do it, it’s his choice.”

When asked in a SPIEGEL interview why Zverev hasn't been so popular in Germany so far, Becker expressed several assumptions. The 58-year-old said, among other things, that he often found Zverev to be abrupt and abrupt in interviews in German and that he was “not particularly friendly towards journalists.”

»I found it strange that he thought I should express myself politically. Whatever the reason,” said Zverev. »I have a very clear opinion on that. Nobody ever asked me about it. I'm not going to go on Instagram and make any comments there. That’s not me, I’ve never done that, I’ll never do that.”

Becker also said that the spectators in Zverev's last three Grand Slam finals were predominantly on the opponent's side. »I found that 70 percent of the people in Paris were for me. At Wimbledon I played against Jannik Sinner and it was relatively 50:50," said Zverev. Only in New York were the fans logically predominantly for the American Ben Shelton.

Zverev emphasized that he had only read small excerpts from Becker's interview. In Paris, the 29-year-old failed against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6:7 (5:7), 2:6 at the start. On Monday, Zverev became the first male German tennis professional since Becker to take over the top of the world rankings.

Alexander Zverev is the new German number one – and tennis legend Boris Becker has been accompanying him for years. Here the ex-professional talks about their conflict-free relationship and stubbornness.

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