Zverev continued: “I did see that he went off again yesterday, which I found – yeah, I think you guys can’t imagine how we as players we find that, and then he wins the next set 6-0, because I think Mannarino’s back got a little bit stiff or something.
“And that’s happened, because as Andy also said, in six minutes, seven minutes in professional sports, in a high-intense match, your body does cool down. It’s very difficult to come back and play on the same level as you did if you’re just sitting down for six, seven, eight, nine minutes, or ten-plus minutes. So it’s from a physical standpoint sometimes it’s not that easy.”
Tsitsipas later hit back at the German and slammed his accusations of receiving coaching in Cincinnati as “ridiculous”, saying the comments were a bigger reflection of Zverev than of himself.
“Look, I’m not pretending that everyone loves me. I don’t want to be – my intentions are not to be loved by anyone,” he said.
“I felt that way, but I kind of have ignored it. Because people don’t know, that’s the thing. When people are not really in the sport and don’t know what’s happening. I mean, all these accusations have been completely false.
“The one in my match in Cincinnati, which was the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. Yeah, that was – I don’t know what to say. I mean, that really shows the level of the person that said it.”