'He turns into prime Novak Djokovic every time we play': Alexander Zverev names his most annoying rival to face

Alexander Zverev recently appeared on an interview with "Nothing Major," where he joined John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Steve Johnson. The German revealed which rivals he finds most 'annoying' to face, surprising the group with a couple of players outside the top 10.

The world No. 3 is currently ranked just behind Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP rankings. Zverev has lost in his last two Grand Slam finals: the French Open 2024 to Alcaraz and the Australian Open 2025. Over the past year, Zverev has remained in the ATP's top three, consistently alongside Alcaraz and the Italian.

There are other rivals who have given the German a particularly hard time, which he discussed on the most recent episode of "Nothing Major." The German referred to one of his major rivals, Russia's Daniil Medvedev, as one of the most annoying to face on tour. "For me the most obvious answer is Daniil Medvedev. I have lost to him like 78 times," Zverev said.

Zverev and Medvedev have faced each other 20 times on tour, with Medvedev winning 13 times and "Sascha" only 7. "Even now I am ranked three in the world and he is ranked 14 and I still lose to him in Halle," the three-time Grand Slam finalist stated. "He turns into prime Novak Djokovic every time he plays against me and I’m like I don’t even play that badly!"

Additionally, Zverev commented on Argentina's Francisco Cerúndolo, who is currently world No. 24 and has a career-high ranking of No. 18. "I am 0-3 against him and I have won one set. All on clay, twice in Madrid," the world No. 3 added. "I have four losses in Madrid in my entire career and two of them came against him. And both were straight sets. I just felt like a complete fool, I had no idea what I was doing."

Alexander Zverev's arch-rival: Medvedev dominates head to head

Up until late 2021—when Zverev defeated Medvedev in a final—their head-to-head was tied at 6-6. However, in recent years, the Russian has dominated the rivalry, winning 7 of their 8 encounters since 2023. The Russian now leads the head-to-head 13-7, with the last four wins coming consecutively.

Zverev and Medvedev have been two of the main protagonists on the Tour in the years following the Big 3's prime. Back in 2022, after Wimbledon, Medvedev reached world No. 1 for the first time in his career and Alexander Zverev was No. 2, marking the first time in two decades that two players other than the Big 3 occupied the top two spots.

Alexander Zverev's Intense Training Session with Toni Nadal

The German also spoke on the podcast about his recent training sessions with Toni Nadal, where he sought to improve aspects of his game to once again be a challenge for Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. "Spending the week in Majorca, the intensity that Rafa played at, that is the intensity that he coaches at. It was unbelievable," said Zverev.

There was speculation that Zverev might form a new long-term partnership with Toni Nadal, but it seems everything remained in preliminary conversations and this will not materialize in the short term. "We had dinner and I was so thankful for that, he was unbelievable, but we had dinners until 1 am together, and in the middle of dinner he would stand up and do swinging forehands and show me what technique he wants me to improve on. It was unbelievable how into it he was."