Alexander Zverev makes unusual decision just minutes after winning Paris Masters | Tennis | Sport

Alexander Zverev started an unusual tradition at the Paris Masters. And he continued it even after winning the tournament.

There was no time for celebrating after the German captured his seventh Masters 1000 title.

Moments after lifting the distinct tree trophy inside the Accor Arena, Zverev was straight back on the small indoor practice courts.

It’s something the world No. 2 started doing earlier in the week, explaining he wanted to work on some things that would serve him through to the end of the season and into 2025.

Throughout the tournament, Zverev would have a training session straight after his matches and only completed his media commitments once he was done. It became something of a running joke in Bercy.

But the German didn’t even give himself a day off after breezing past Ugo Humbert to lift the title. As he entered his winning press conference, Zverev was asked whether he’d been at practice again.

“Yeah, I was,” he replied. “Yeah, I just finished.”

The 27-year-old also confirmed he had been working on something specific but he will now give himself a couple of days off before his next session on Wednesday. He continued: “For me, the result, it’s great. I’m extremely satisfied. I’m happy about it.

“But as I said in the beginning of the week, for me I want to improve some things for me to achieve my really big goals.

“I’m happy with the final. I’m happy with the tournament. Of course I’m sitting here with the trophy from a Masters 1000 event, but there are still some things I want to improve, and this is a process of a few months, and I’m improving for next year already hopefully.”

Zverev initially addressed his post-match training sessions after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-final. He explained: “There is just a plan that I have, what I want to improve until the Australian Open.

“It’s not about the match. It’s not about today, not about yesterday, it’s not to improve for tomorrow.

“For me, it’s to improve for the Australian Open, and I have a few things that I feel like other players are doing better than me, and I want to improve on those things.”

Following his semi-final victory, Zverev also admitted he was keen to catch the lines of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. “For me, it’s about improving a few things,” he said.

“I feel like, you know, Jannik and Carlos, you know, they are doing a few things better than me at the moment. I want to improve.

“I want to improve not for tomorrow, not for today or, you know, because of the matches I played here. I want to generally improve for next year as well.

“That’s the reason I do take this as a lot of practice here in this week, and I want to improve my game for next year, as well.”