Alexander Zverev sharply criticizes Davis Cup format despite Germany reaching SF

Alexander Zverev was quite critical of the Davis Cup's format despite helping Germany reach the semifinals of this year's edition of the prestigious international men's team tennis event with a last-eight win over Argentina. The World No. 3's gripe was mainly with the miserly attendance for the tie in Bologna, the Italian host city of the 2025 Davis Cup Finals.

Argentina took the early lead after Tomas Martin Etcheverry's hard-fought victory against Jan-Lennard Struff. However, Zverev squared things up for Germany by beating Francisco Cerundolo. In the decisive doubles encounter, the German duo of Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz saved three match points to overcome Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos, securing Germany's progress to the last four.

In the aftermath of the German contingent's quarterfinal success, Alexander Zverev opined that the overall level of the tie was quite high and according to the 24-time career singles titlist, had it been played in either his home country or Argentina, many more people would have showed up to watch the action.

"I will always defend my country's colors and give my best. But don't you find it sad that this tie was decided with barely 1,000 people in the stands? If we had played in Argentina or Germany, we would have had an incredible atmosphere with 15,000 people. I find it sad," Zverev said.

"Bring back the real Davis Cup" - Alexander Zverev in 2023

Alexander Zverev during a press conference at the 2025 Paris Masters (Source: Getty)

In 2023, former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt lashed out at the revamped Davis Cup format. Hewitt was Australia's Davis Cup captain and had to digest a bitter loss in the final for the second successive year. Later, he spoke up about how the revamped format was far from ideal for players.

Not long after, Alexander Zverev echoed the Australian tennis icon's sentiments as he made a desperate plea for the Davis Cup to be switched back to the previous format with home and away fixtures. The German wrote on his Instagram Stories (now-disappeared):

"When (are) the sport of tennis and the federations of our sport finally going to listen to us players and even more importantly to the living legends of our sport who used to give their absolute everything for the Davis cup and what it used to stand for The Davis cup is one of the most historic events in not only tennis but sports in general Bring back the real Davis cup"

Zverev is now set to represent Germany in the semis against Spain at the 2025 Davis Cup Finals, with the other last-four clash pitting Italy against Belgium.

Edited by Sudipto Pati