US Open: 'Her Opinion Does Not Matter To Me,' World No. 7 Slams Tennis Great Navratilova

KEY POINTS

Navratilova criticized Zverev's gameplay during the US Open quarters
Zverev won the quarters game in four sets
He is set to face Spain's Carreno Busta in the last-four fixture

Alexander Zverev survived an intense contest as he defeated Borna Coric in the US Open 2020 quarter-finals Tuesday.

Zverev started the game poorly as he ended up getting thrashed 1-6 in the first set. Luckily for the German, he bounced back quickly to win the next three and seal a place in the last-four with a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 6-1 victory over the Croatian opponent.

When Zverev was playing his quarters fixture at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova insisted the fifth-seeded Zverev would not win against big players with such a game display. The 18-time Grand Slam winner Navratilova was not impressed by Zverev’s gameplay on Tuesday, where the 23-year-old just kept getting the ball back in play.

Watching that, Navratilova termed Zverev’s game as "Pat-A-Cake tennis". During the press conference after his quarters game, reporters asked Zverev about the term given to him by the 63-year-old tennis great. Initially, Zverev did not understand, but when it was made clear to him, the German was clearly unhappy.

"Maybe she should look at my record against the big guys. Maybe she should look that I’m positive against Roger and maybe she should look that I’ve beaten Novak on multiple occasions in big matches and finals," Zverev responded during the post-match press conference.

The 2018 ATP World Tour winner also mentioned that Navratilova’s opinion did not mean anything to him. "But she’s a Grand Slam champion, as well, multiple Grand Slam champion, she’s respected, but her opinion right now does not matter to me," Zverev added in the same interaction.

Alexander Zverev of Germany celebrates winning his quarter-final match against Borna Coric of Croatia at the 2020 US Open GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AL BELLO

Speaking of higher-ranked opponents, Zverev has beaten World No. 1 Novak Djokovic twice before. One of those wins was in the ATP Finals title match in 2018. He reached the final after he defeated 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer in the semi-final. He has also defeated Federer on three other occasions.

With Djokovic out and Federer and Nadal not participating, Zverev is one of the favorites to win the US Open 2020. Two of his biggest rivals, Dominic Thiem and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev are on the other side of the draw.

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