After shaking off a toe injury to defeat Valentin Royer in straight sets at the Shanghai Masters on Saturday, Alexander Zverev had something to get off his chest.
Zverev floated the theory that tennis tournament directors are making the court speeds the same to benefit the likes of world Nos. 1 and 2, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, each of whom have dominated the sport's major tournaments as of late.
"I hate when it's the same, to be honest," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "I think the tournament directors are going towards that direction because, obviously, they want Jannik and Carlos to do well every tournament, and that's what they prefer."
Zverev says tournament directors are making court speeds ‘the same’ to favor Sinner & Alcaraz
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 4, 2025
"I hate when it's the same… I know the tournament directors are going towards that direction because they want Jannik & Carlos to do well every tournament."
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Traditionally, grass courts are fastest, followed by hard courts and then clay courts. But the German tennis player is claiming that that might not be the case anymore. Zverev, citing his 12 years of experience on the ATP Tour, theorizes that the tournaments used to vary the speed of the courts, leading to a specific style of play faring better depending on the surface. Now, he believes all surfaces are playing similarly.
"Nowadays, you can play almost the same way on every surface," Zverev continued. "I don't like it. I'm not a fan of it. I think tennis needs different game styles, tennis needs a little bit of variety, and I think we're lacking that right now."
Zverev's theory is certainly not new, and was most notably shared by 20-time major winner Roger Federer during a September appearance on the Served With Andy Roddick podcast. Federer, after being asked if tournaments need to course correct to create more varied surfaces in terms of speed, explained what he believes is currently occurring.
"That's why we, the tournament directors, we need to fix it," Federer said. "We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz or Sinner figure it out on lightning fast, and then have the same match on super slow and see how that matches up.
"That's how the rankings points used to be, remember? Back in the day, only 12 tournaments counted, so everybody would play on their favorite surface. And then they would sometimes meet, and those were the best matches when you had the attacker against a retriever, and now everyone plays similar."
Federer said that tournament directors have now, using similar court and ball speeds, essentially eliminated the style differences that surfaces used to lend.
"Obviously, I understand the safety net that the tournament directors see in making the surface slower. It's for the weaker player—he has to hit extra amazing shots to beat Sinner, whereas if it's quick, he can only maybe blast a few and, at the right time and he gets past."
Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win each of the last eight major tournaments and have recently dominated the ATP Tour's smaller-level tourneys, with the latter winning the China Open and the former emerging victorious at the Japan Open.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Zverev Floats Theory Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner Are Favored by Tourney Organizers.
