Australian Open 2022: ‘Everything’ went wrong in ‘awful’ Melbourne exit, says Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev, dejected after losing to Denis Shapovalov in straight sets on Sunday, called it one of the worst losses of his career.
In a performance Zverev described as “just awful,” the world number three was knocked out of the Australian Open by Canada’s 14th seed 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in 2hr 21min.
Zverev, 24, remains on the hunt for his first Grand Slam title despite being one of the pre-tournament favorites after winning the ATP Finals for a second time in November.
Reporters asked the German what went wrong, and he launched into a brutal self-evaluation.
“Everything,” Zverev replied. “Maybe since Wimbledon, one of the worst matches I have played. It’s just tough.
“I give Denis credit. It’s incredible he’s in the quarters. I believe he deserves it.”
The day, in my opinion, was awful for me.”
Runner-up at the 2020 US Open, Zverev made 32 unforced errors and smashed his racquet in anger after one of four breaks of his serve.
“It’s not the fault of anyone else. It’s all my fault. As the world number three, at the end of the day I have to take responsibility for my actions and inactions,” he said.
After falling in the first set, Zverev’s task became more challenging when he lost the second-set tiebreak. He served eight double faults.
“It wasn’t good enough to beat someone like Denis today.”
It will be Shapovalov’s first quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open, where he will face 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, the sixth seed and highest-ranked player left in the top half.
“I felt things were going my way early on, lost some momentum in the second set, but fought back well and kept rolling,” said Shapovalov, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
In referring to his nearly 11-hour schedule to get to round of 16, he said, “I least expected to win it in three sets.”.
Shapovalov, who has lost all four of his matches to Nadal, said that playing someone like Rafa is always going to be a battle.
Despite the challenges, I’m looking forward to the challenge.”