As the World No. 2 and defending champion, Alexander Zverev entered the Rome Open as one of the tournament’s top favorites. However, he failed to live up to expectations and was defeated in the quarterfinals by Lorenzo Musetti. After the match, the German star pointed to a surprising factor that impacted his performance.
“Balls were a joke today,” Zverev said, according to Tennis.com, referring to an element that affected his level of play on Wednesday. “Generally speaking this is a subject we’ve had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time.”
Alexander expanded on what he claimed was a widely held concern among players. “They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different,” he said, before describing those differences in more detail: “The ball is very, very big. It’s very difficult to hit winners here. It’s just how it is these days.”
Statistically, Zverev recorded 20 winners during the match—the same number as Musetti. The key difference, which helped determine the 7-6, 6-4 result, was accuracy: while the Italian had 20 unforced errors, Zverev committed 36.
Lorenzo Musetti will face Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals
Zverev points to stylistic contrast with Musetti
Zverev himself offered a potential explanation for the unforced error discrepancy and the role the balls may have played. “I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time,” Alexander said of Musetti. “He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents.”
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Drawing a contrast with his own approach, the World No. 2 added: “For my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day, I’m still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I’m still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That’s how it is. It’s difficult to get free points today.”
Roland Garros is Zverev’s next goal
The loss to Musetti means Zverev will now be inactive for 10 days before his next competition: the second Grand Slam of the year. “I have to move forward and I have to plan myself for Paris and do the best that I can there,” he said. Roland Garros begins Sunday, May 25, and Alexander will enter as one of the tournament favorites, having reached the semifinals in each of the last four editions.
Musetti reaches an impressive milestone
With his win over Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti advanced to the semifinals of the Rome Open and became the first male player to reach three Masters 1000 semifinals in 2025, having also done so in Madrid and Monte-Carlo.
The World No. 9 now faces another major challenge in Rome: he’ll take on Carlos Alcaraz in the next round on Friday morning. The other semifinal features Jannik Sinner vs. Tommy Paul, setting up the possibility of an all-Italian final.
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