Alexander Zverev said he “overachieved” at the Shanghai Masters in reaching the semi-finals, as fatigue from a busy competition schedule caught up with him. The world number two will be the first German man to end the year as world number one.
The 29-year-old top seed exited in the last four on Saturday, when Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina pulled off a surprise 5-7 6-4 6-3 win. It was only Davidovich Fokina’s second victory in eight meetings with Zverev.
Zverev is guaranteed to end the season as world number one, but he has had little opportunity to rest between the US Open, Laver Cup, Beijing Masters and Shanghai.
“I feel like I’ve actually, in a way, maybe overachieved this week because of how much tennis I played,” Zverev said.
“I carried a little bit of injury, I carried fatigue into the tournament, and I’m OK to lose to a player like this today.”
Davidovich Fokina turns the semi-final around
Davidovich Fokina repeatedly exposed Zverev on the forehand side. Zverev surrendered his first break of the match to an exquisite backhand passing shot on the run, and that took the semi-final to a deciding set.
Zverev was broken to trail 2-0 in the third set and could not recover control of the tie. The 25th seed advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 final since 2022.
“I’m not a robot”
Zverev failed to replicate the performance that earned him a straight-set win over Alex de Minaur in the quarter-final. He said he has struggled since his fourth-round win over Alexander Bublik went to a third-set tie-break.
“First, I’m not a robot, I’m a human being, I get tired,” Zverev said. “After the US Open, I had one day off in total. I think I played a lot of tennis, which is very, very positive because that means I played well.
“I think even here I had tough matches. I personally feel like I was quite flat since the Bublik match, because I was losing energy.
“I played a phenomenal match against Alex de Minaur, but today I was flat. Even in the first set, even though I won the set, I was flatter, I was not reacting so well. I was returning quite badly.
“We’re all human beings, even the best players in the world.”
A rare setback in a brilliant season
The semi-final defeat is a disappointing exception to a brilliant season for Zverev. He claimed the first Grand Slam title of his career at the French Open in June, then won a second at the US Open in September.
Davidovich Fokina will face fellow Spaniard Rafael Jodar in the final on Sunday.