Germany won a very entertaining Davis Cup tie, with Alexander Zverev inspiring the victory with a win in the second rubber against Francisco Cerundolo.
Zverev has had a poor 2025 by his usual high standards. Although he reached the final of the Australian Open in January, he’s been nowhere near when it comes to the other Grand Slam events.
Zverev has been critical of some of the court speeds on the ATP Tour in the second half of the year. He’s of the belief that events want to create courts designed to help Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner meet in as many finals as possible.
The Davis Cup gives Zverev the perfect chance to try and finish the year with a flourish, and he won’t have to come up against Alcaraz at any point, with the Spaniard withdrawing from the tournament through injury.
What Alexander Zverev said about Francisco Cerundolo
After the match, Cerundolo praised Zverev for his efforts in the match and the German player returned those compliments in his press conference.
Zverev was made to work for the victory, coming through 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 to ensure that Germany wasn’t sent packing from the competition before the doubles rubber had taken place.
In his press conference, Zverev was asked about Cerundolo, and he suggested where the Argentine should be ranked.
He said: “I think the whole Argentinian team, I know Francisco very well, I know Tommy very well, they’re two of the nicest guys on tour. They’re incredibly nice.
“For me, my personal opinion, you can take it as a compliment, you can take it maybe as a negative thing, but for me, Francisco should be higher in the ranking than he is. He should find something inside of him that is the reason and work on that.
“For me, on clay and also on hard court, the way he played today, he should be very close or even top 10. This is my opinion.
“I played against him multiple, multiple times. He’s beaten me multiple times. I’ve always said the same thing. For me, he’s much better than his ranking.”
Cerundolo needs to take the next step in his career
At 27, the time really has to come soon for Cerundolo to take that next step in his career and start to improve on his best world ranking of number 18 earlier this year.
Right now, he’s the world number 21, and ultimately, his performances at the Grand Slam events have been nowhere near good enough.
Cerundolo, as Zverev says, perhaps should have been in a higher position at this stage of his career, and he will need to kick on next year if he’s to really begin making waves on the tour.
The three-time ATP Tour winner has never been beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam, and for a player boasting such talent, that simply isn’t good enough.
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