Zverev: 'I don't remember hitting my backhand this badly’
pFourth seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a called his backhand his lsquo;most reliable shotrsquo; on Tuesday at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a. But the Germanrsquo;s double-hander met the negative side of a double-edged sword in a quarter-final loss to home favourite a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a./p
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ldquo;I don't remember since being on Tour hitting my backhand this badly. I just don't,rdquo; Zverev said in his post-match press conference. ldquo;I was missing shots which were in the middle of the court with no pace, in the bottom of the net. Terrible. Just absolutely terrible by me.rdquo;/p
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In a tight four-set battle which lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours inside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-ashe/a063/overview'Arthur Ashe/a Stadium, Zverev committed 15 unforced backhand errors to just one winner off that wing./p
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ldquo;My forehand was okay, actually. My serve was okay. But my most reliable shot, the shot that I'm most known for, the shot that you [could] wake me up at 3 a.m. and I would not miss, was absolutely not there today,rdquo; Zverev said. ldquo;I have no words for it, to be honest.rdquo;/p
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Zverev, who was a finalist in 2020 at Flushing Meadows, also lost to Fritz in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a fourth round just two months ago. Their Lexus ATP Head2Head series is now tied at 5-5./p
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Though Zverev fought back to capture the second set, his baseline game let him down in key moments as Fritz secured the victory 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3)./p
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ldquo;At some point, I didn't know what to do anymore,rdquo; said Zverev, who is up two places to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. ldquo;At some point I just had so many questions in my mind. I had absolutely no idea whether I should go for it, whether I should put the ball [in] the court. Then I tried to put the ball [in] the court, it would go to the bottom of the net./p
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ldquo;A few shots I went for it, they flew. The thing is, I was missing shots by like six feet, regular baseline shots. I don't know./p
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ldquo;[Taylor] absolutely deserved to win today. I'm not taking anything away from him. He played quite a good match. I did nothing to deserve to win.rdquo;/p
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Despite the disappointing loss, Zverev leaves the seasonrsquo;s final major leading the ATP Tour in match wins this year (56-17). A finalist at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a, Zverev was aiming to become the second German man in the Open Era to reach three major semi-finals in a season (a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/boris-becker/b028/overview'Boris Becker/a in 1989, 1991)./p
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The two-time a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a champion is second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with roughly two months until this yearrsquo;s edition of the season finale. Zverev officially qualified for the prestigious year-end event by reaching the last eight in New York./p
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