Alexander Zverev exclusive on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer injury comebacks - ‘I don't know how they do that’

Updated 11/04/2023 at 09:18 GMT

Alexander Zverev has expressed his astonishment at how tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have managed to return from injuries during their illustrious careers. Speaking exclusively to Eurosport, Zverev also spoke about his experience on clay courts, and how far he is from getting back to playing his best tennis ahead of the Monte Carlo Masters.

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Alexander Zverev believes that Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer have a different mindset when coming back from injuries.

The German is coming back from his own injury, which he suffered in the semi-finals of last year's French Open, but he said that part of the reason that two of the greatest to ever play tennis are so good is how they return from injuries.

"Rafa and Roger [Federer] are different. They come back from injury and they start winning tournaments immediately," Zverev told Eurosport.

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"I don't know how they do that. But they've been doing it for 20 years now. I needed time but I think also my injury was maybe a little bit different.

"I was not able to walk really for two months. You have to learn your movements again, you have to learn how to walk again, you have to learn how to run again," he continued.

"These are all factors that may play a little bit of a part in tennis. But you can't compare Rafa to me because Rafa comes back and starts winning and not only winning against everyone but beating them 6-0 6-1 6-2."

Zverev also spoke about how he finds clay courts. He said: "Normally, it takes me about 10 minutes to get used to the clay courts because it is a surface that I'm very natural on. It is a surface that I really enjoy playing on.

"This year, maybe it was a bit different. I still had to get the injury and the accident out of my head in a way to be able to really feel comfortable sliding again and really feel comfortable moving again on the clay court.

"But I feel like that's going to go with time and I feel like the more matches I'm playing on the surface, the better it's going to be and I also have to remember the good memories I had on this surface."

The former world No. 2 also shared how far away he is from playing his best tennis.

"I feel like I played amazing tennis in Dubai," he said. "I feel like I played very good tennis at the Indian Wells, as well. Maybe if I go through that [Daniil] Medvedev match in Indian Wells, maybe I'm in the final there. I played a final against [Carlos] Alcaraz so who knows what happens there?

"So maybe one or two points away from being at my best. You can be at your best in practice, you can be at your best you know on the match court in certain situations, but you have to win those matches to feel like you're completely back. I feel like that's the only thing missing right now."