Alexander Zverev shared his thoughts on Boris Becker’s criticism of his performance on the Tour. The former world No. 2 stated that he no longer cares about the opinion of the German tennis legend.
Zverev recently wrapped up his run in the Asian swing of the Tour, finishing his campaign at the 2025 Shanghai Masters. He reached the third round before losing to the eventual runner-up, Arthur Rinderknech.
What Did Alexander Zverev Say About Boris Becker’s Criticism of Him?
This year, Zverev achieved his best result at the BMW Open, defeating Ben Shelton in the final to claim the title. His best result in Grand Slam tournaments came at the Australian Open, where he finished as the runner-up to Jannik Sinner. He also finished runner-up at the BOSS Open, losing to Taylor Fritz in the final.
Zverev also reached the semifinals at the 2025 Halle Open, Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open. Despite these top results, he faced criticism from Becker following his third-round exit at the Shanghai Masters.
While speaking to Andrea Petkovic on a podcast, Becker commented that Zverev’s reliance on his father and brother in his team and the absence of new faces in his box have hindered his development. He also admitted that watching the former world No. 2 play nowadays gives him a “headache.”
“Nothing new is happening in his box either. There’s his father, there’s his brother – the same faces as always.. He’s a problem child right now. I really get a bit of a headache when I think about Sascha Zverev. He needs to turn things around again for the last two or three tournaments of the year,” Becker said in an interview with German media outlet, BILD.
In response to Becker’s criticism, Zverev stated during an interview with BILD that he believes the six-time Grand Slam champion is “unconcerned” about his performance and only criticizes him to gain “attention.”
“I think he’s relatively unconcerned about me, to be honest. I think he’s looking for a bit of attention, and he gets it through me. Unfortunately, that’s the case. But I don’t care anymore,” Zverev told BILD.
Zverev mentioned that he does not care about Becker’s remarks and expressed confidence in his ability to achieve good results in the remaining tournaments of the season.
“Everything will work out and I’m full of confidence that I’ll find my form again and play good tennis again. And now there are tournaments that I really like indoors, Vienna and Paris, where I won last year. I think I can play good tennis there again,” he added.
Looking ahead, Zverev is next set to compete in the 2025 Vienna Open, which began on Oct. 20 and will run until Oct. 26, 2025. His best result at this tournament came in 2021, when he claimed the title by defeating Frances Tiafoe in the final.
This year, in addition to his singles campaign at the ATP 500 hard court tournament, Zverev will compete in the doubles event. He has partnered with Marcelo Melo, who will face the third-seeded duo of Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten in the first round.
Who Will Zverev Face at the 2025 Vienna Open 1R?
Zverev is seeded second at the 2025 Vienna Open, and he will begin his campaign by taking on Jacob Fearnley in the tournament’s first round.
In the lead-up to the ATP 500 hard-court event, Fearnley participated in the 2025 Stockholm Open, where he won his first-round match against Tallon Griekspoor. His run at the tournament ended in the second round when he lost to wild-card entrant Elias Ymer.
Fearnley secured his spot in the main draw of the 2025 Vienna Open by winning his matches in the qualifiers. He defeated Dalibor Svrčina in the first qualifying round with a scoreline of 6-4, 7-5, and then advanced to the main draw by overcoming Hamad Medjedovic 7-6(11), 6-3 in the second qualifying match.
Zverev and Fearnley have faced each other three times on the ATP Tour, with the German winning all three encounters. Their latest match-up took place in the second round of the 2025 US Open, where Zverev triumphed with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
The winner of the first-round match between Zverev and Fearnley at the 2025 Vienna Open will advance to face qualifier Matteo Arnaldi in the second round.
