"Simone Biles is a legend, I saw Noah Lyles as well" - Alexander Zverev on rubbing shoulders with 'great' American athletes at Paris Olympics

Alexander Zverev recalled seeing popular American athletes Simone Biles and Noah Lyles during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The German also got to spend some time with his Germany's basketball team and was impressed by the crowd during the opening ceremony.

Zverev, who is currently competing at the 2024 National Bank Open, sat down for a chat with Tennis Channel after the second seed kicked off his campaign with a resounding 6-1, 6-1 win over Jordan Thompson.

The German was asked to tell which athletes at the Olympics impressed him, to which he, without no hesita, to which, took Simone Biles' name calling her a legend.

He also recalled seeing Noah Lyles and mentioned how geat the American athletes were. Zverev also spent some time with Germany's basketball team during the opening ceremony and was impressed by the crowd.

The World No. 4 also saw Serena Williams but mentioned he knew tennis stars such as Williams, Djokovic, and Alcaraz already.

“"Simone Biles, actually. Just seeing her at the Village, she’s a legend. I saw Serena too, but those’re all people I know. I mean Carlos or Novak , I see them every week. But just from the outside sport Simone Biles is somebody that I saw. Noah Lyles, I saw him there as well. Just some of the Americans, I think they are great athletes. Our basketball team was there, which was a lot of fun, on the opening ceremony as well, I was impressed by the people," Alexander Zverev said. (3:41)

Alexander Zverev was the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics but fell to Lorenzo Musseti in the quarterfinals.

"For other athletes, seeing tennis players is extremely special" - Alexander Zverev on the attention received by Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and himself during the 2024 Paris Olympics

Alexander Zverev (Source: Getty)

Continuing his thoughts, Alexander Zverev also mentioned though the tennis players saw each other weekly, other athletes must've been excited to see them. So, he found the amount of attention Novak Djokovic,Carlos Alcaraz, and he received to be funny.

"But, it’s funny, because us tennis players, obviously we’re together on a weekly basis and we see each other on a weekly basis, but I think, for other athletes, seeing tennis players is also extremely special right? I think the amount of attention Carlos got, Novak got and I got some as well. It was funny to see because for us it’s just normal, we see each other every other week. But for them, for other athletes, tennis is such a global sport that everybody follows," he said.

After ousting Holger Rune 6-3, 7-6(5) in the third round, Zverev will next face Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open.