Alexander Zverev was defeated by Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters 1000, which is why he will not be able to defend the title he won in the Italian capital last year. The German ace is set to drop to third place in the ATP rankings from next Monday, being overtaken by Carlos Alcaraz who reached the semifinals at the Foro Italico. This means that Sascha will be seeded number 3 at Roland Garros – the second Grand Slam tournament of the season – which begins at the end of May in Paris.
The truth is that Alexander has not expressed his best tennis since being defeated by Jannik Sinner in the final of the 2025 Australian Open, having also lost those certainties he had acquired in the second half of last year.
Yesterday’s match against Musetti exemplifies this concept, considering that the current world number 2 had four set points in the first set – including three consecutive – before playing a truly disastrous tiebreak.
During his press conference, the champion from Hamburg was very nervous and complained about the conditions. Sascha said that it is impossible to play aggressive tennis with this type of ball and added that the Italian only defended waiting for his mistakes.
Sascha was very frustrated
Through his X profile, the well-known analyst Benoit Maylin blasted the Australian Open finalist for his statements: “From the beginning of the tournament in Rome, Zverev has shown a truly disconcerting bad faith. After losing to Musetti, he repeated the same old story as the balls and accused his opponent of just defending by waiting for his mistakes.
For the moment, the German has shown that he is number 1 only in the mythomania ranking.”
Alexander will show up at Roland Garros with little confidence and it will not be easy for him to repeat last year’s final, when he came just one set away from winning the first Major of his career. Having lost a position in the ATP rankings, he could face Sinner or Alcaraz already in the semifinals in Paris.
