This content was published 2 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

A very good win over Alex De Minaur gave Alexander Zverev a ticket for the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2022. The 6-3 7-6 from today was a good boost in the confidence of the German who is still looking for the first title of his season.

“Obviously, it’s not easy coming from Madrid to here with high altitude in Madrid, the ball’s flying. Here it’s quite slow. The first match you need sometimes to get used to it”, he explained after his good fight with De Minaur closed with a magnificent dropshot in the second set tiebreak.

The 2017 champion is looking to end his drought from titles in this 2022, which started in a rather erratic way for him. Nonetheless, the 25-year-old feels like he has turned the page since last week.

“I think Madrid did that for me, to be honest”, he explained, adding that even though had not won the title there, he has taken great confidence from that run: “I mean, I got beaten there, but there was also other factors, as I said before. I feel better on the court now than I did the previous weeks. Hopefully it can keep going this way. Hopefully I can play well here. The main focus is still going to be Roland Garros I think, trying to be at your best there”.

Part of this attitude is to be given to the return of his father in his box: “I am very happy to have him back. It gives me a certain calmness, a certain confidence as well, because he’s been there from the beginning of my career. I think nobody knows me better on the court than he does. It does give me something that I think no other person can give me: some sort of calmness, some sort of confidence that is just there when he’s around”.