"When Roger Federer was on tour, it was very different" - Alexander Zverev laments lack of differences between surfaces now in ATP Tour

After his win against Andrey Rublev at the 2024 ATP Finals, Alexander Zverev reflected on the nature of court surfaces when Swiss legend Roger Federer was still active. The German turned in a fine serving performance to oust his opponent in straight sets on Tuesday, November 12.

During his post-match press conference, Zverev, however, said he was not too pleased with the slow speed of the courts. The former ATP Finals champion went on to recall years when Roger Federer was still active, claiming players could tell the difference between playing on a slow clay court and the quick indoor hardcourts.

"I think when Roger Federer was still on tour, it was very different. There was big, big differences between a clay court, a hard court and indoor hard court. I'm missing that right now a little bit," Alexander Zverev said.

Zverev said he missed playing on courts with varying speeds, recalling how slow the courts were at Indian Wells in comparison to those at the Canadian and Shanghai Masters up until very recently.

The German felt that the sport had been losing some essence of late by trying to make all courts play at the same speed.

"I'm missing a little bit the differences in surfaces because before there was a clear difference between a clay court and outdoor hard courts," Alexander Zverev said. "Some were very slow like in Indian Wells, but some were very fast, like Canada was always very fast, Shanghai was always very fast."

"And indoor hard courts. I think we lost that a little bit by trying to make all the surfaces very similar and almost the same," he added.

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"The surface is very slow" - Alexander Zverev after opening win at ATP Finals

Alexander Zverev at the 2024 ATP Finals 2024. (Source: Getty)

Alexander Zverev also offered his personal assessment of the courts at the 2024 ATP Finals, saying they were very slow compared to other indoor hardcourts. He, however, was quick to add that it did not bother him too much as he likes playing on all surfaces.

"Back to the surface," Alexander Zverev said. "The surface is very slow. It's too slow for an indoor hard court. I'm not complaining because I like slow surfaces, I like fast surfaces. I don't really care too much."

He went on to single out Cincinnati and Paris Bercy as the only surfaces that played a quick speed from this year’s Tour before reiterating the loss that courts with similar speeds can inflict on the sport.

"I think in tennis right now, we're missing game styles a little bit," the German said. "The reason why is because I think clay courts and hard courts, they're all pretty much the same. They're almost the same speed, with the exception of two tournaments this year, with the exception of Cincinnati and of Paris Bercy, because they're faster," he added.

Zverev has landed in the same group as Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals. He will take on the Spaniard as well as Casper Ruud in his other two round-robin matches next.