Alexander Zverev has revealed that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among those who congratulated him after his his maiden grand slam title at the French Open and that he was much more nervous than he admitted to once all rivals had bowed out.
Zverev told the Bild paper in an interview published on Thursday that he has been bombarded with messages after his five-set win over Italy's Flavio Cobolli on Sunday in Paris.
"I still have 1,576 unanswered messages. I have been answering them for three days but will need a few days more. I want to write back to everyone," he said.
Zverev said that tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal had messaged him along with footballers including Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and Toni Kroos, while basketball great Dirk Nowitzki "already sent messages during the match."
Merz also called, which Zverev named "a big honour" because they had never met before.
"He was really delighted with the win and said he’d watched the match too and was cheering us on. I think that’s brilliant – I hadn’t expected that," Zverev said.
Zverev told Bild and Sky TV that he had a lot of problems coming to terms with the role of top favourite once world number one Jannik Sinner and Djokovic were eliminated in the first week.
Zverev said in Paris he was just thinking step by step before now admitting that he "faked ad nauseam" how he felt.
“I lied to myself for the sake of the cause,” he said, adding that "I didn't sleep that night" after Sinner lost. “Of course I was nervous,” he said, speaking of "the most stressful week" of his life.
Zverev defied the pressure and got his first title of the majors in his fourth final, making him the first German man to win a grand slam since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
Zverev is now in Halle, Germany, where he will start his grass court season next week.
