Zverev says Vienna’s balls and court are “incredibly slow” after De Minaur defeat, days before he becomes world No. 1

Alexander Zverev lost a three-set semi-final to Alex de Minaur in Vienna and put it down partly to slow conditions, repeating a complaint he made in Montreal. De Minaur’s reply was that he had played on his own terms.

It is an unusual moment for a complaint. Zverev goes into Monday’s rankings as the official world No. 1, yet he left Vienna talking about equipment rather than ranking points. He lost 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) in two hours and 30 minutes on Saturday, according to Tennis365’s report of the match.

“Do you think it’s normal?”

Zverev’s frustration was visible during the match. With De Minaur ahead in the first set, he asked the chair umpire: “Do you think it’s normal to play with these balls in a tennis tournament?” Tennis365 reports that the ATP 500 event was using Dunlop balls.

Afterwards, speaking to German outlet Bild as quoted by Tennis365, he was more measured about the match itself. “I started the tiebreak relatively poorly, made a few unforced errors, and then he didn’t play his way,” Zverev said. Then came the sharper point: “The balls and the court are incredibly slow. De Minaur handles that better, and he was also better than me today.”

The same report notes that Zverev was among the players who criticised the Wilson balls and the conditions in Montreal earlier this year. Two tournaments, two different ball manufacturers, one familiar objection: the surface and the ball combine to take pace out of the game.

De Minaur’s view: it was the tennis

De Minaur offered a different reading, and he had the result to back it. “Super proud, super proud with how I handled the situation,” he said in his on-court interview. “I was very calm, even though I threw in a couple doubles there. I thought, all in all, I played a very aggressive tie-break. I played on my terms. I was going to go out swinging and playing the right type of tennis, and that’s what made the difference today.”

That is the counter-argument in a sentence. Slow conditions suit counter-punchers and players who are comfortable extending rallies, and De Minaur is one of the best in the world at that. Zverev even conceded the point: De Minaur “handles that better”. Whether that makes it a complaint about the conditions or simply an honest description of the match-up is a matter of taste.

The wider context

Zverev’s record against top-10 opponents is the awkward statistic hanging over his No. 1 ranking. The loss leaves him 3-9 against the top ten in 2026, with wins over Ben Shelton, De Minaur and Taylor Fritz, as Tennis365 notes. We looked at the row over his ranking earlier this week, when Zverev said he would be “an idiot” to claim he matched Sinner, and at his call for a shorter season.

The slow-court debate is closely tied to that calendar argument. Players who finish seasons worn down tend to blame the schedule, but the pace of courts and balls shapes how long points last and how physically demanding each match becomes. That is why Zverev’s remarks sit alongside the calendar complaints rather than apart from them.

For De Minaur, the stakes were practical. The win lifted him to eighth, and he moved just ahead of Rafael Jodar in the last ATP Finals qualification place. Our Race to Turin piece explains how tight that fight is going into Paris.

The honest verdict is that both players are right. The conditions were slow, and De Minaur was better suited to them. The more interesting question is whether the tour treats such complaints as sour grapes from a beaten player or as a recurring signal from the top of the game. When the world No. 1 and a growing list of colleagues raise the same point in different cities, it becomes harder to dismiss.