Zverev accuses ATP of Sinner, Alcaraz favouritism despite Shanghai win

(Getty/Lintao Zhang)

Alexander Zverev survived a major scare at the Shanghai Masters, and also took the time to criticise the ATP on a persisting issue.

The world No.3 looked fairly comfortable in his first round match against Valentin Royer, but was limping in the final game and required a medical timeout.

"I jumped on my serve, landed, and now I can't step on my big toe. Just landed normally, nothing out of the ordinary," Zverev told the physio.

Despite moving unconvincingly, the German successfully served out the match to escape unscathed, recording a 6-4, 6-4 win.

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The pace of the courts throughout the calendar year has sparked a large debate among the tennis world, with trends indicating that courts are slowing down across the board.

According to Daniel Vallverdú, former Venezuelan player and now tournament director of the Washington Open, the updated Court Pace Index (CPI) for Shanghai is 32.8 compared to 42.4 in 2024, which is a significant drop off, but argues that over 50 per cent of the hard court Masters events are medium-fast paced.

In his on-court interview, Zverev confirmed that he isn't a fan of the CPI's consistency, while suggesting a hint of favouritism when it comes to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

"I hate when [court speeds are] the same. And I know that the tournament directors are going towards that direction because obviously they want Jannik and Carlos to do well every tournament," he said.

"We always had different surfaces; you couldn't play the same tennis the same way on a grass court, hard court and a clay court.

"Nowadays, you can play almost the same way on every surface."

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After his victory over Daniel Altmaier in the night session, Sinner was quizzed about Zverev's comments.

"Wow. I don't know what to say on that one, to be honest," a baffled Sinner explained.

"I don't make the courts. I just want to play tennis."

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