Alexander Zverev: 'I have to move forward' after Rome loss to Lorenzo Musetti

At his final event ahead of a 10th consecutive Roland Garros appearance, Alexander Zverev fell to Lorenzo Musetti in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia quarterfinals after seeing four set points go wasted.

The in-form Italian prevailed, 7-6 (1), 6-4, to line up a Monte Carlo final rematch with Carlos Alcaraz. Afterwards, the defending champion downplayed what his opponent produced in Rome on Wednesday evening.

“I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents,” the No. 2 seed stated in the mixed zone. “For my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day, I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today.”

As the final statsheet would show, Zverev contributed 36 unforced errors to Musetti’s 22—yet the German was matched into the winners department at 20. If anyone's playing defense here, it may just be Zverev.

Musetti has now reached the semifinals at all three ATP Masters 1000 events on clay this spring with four Top 10 wins, while Zverev combined to go 5-3 across the board and hasn't posted a completed Top 10 victory this year. Beyond his assessment of Musetti, Zverev felt another element at the Foro Italico contributed to a performance that left him uninspired.

“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time, he asserted.“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days.”

Last month, Zverev triumphed over Ben Shelton to nab the 500-level title on home soil in Munich. But the lack of a notable result on the 1000 stage, combined with Alcaraz’s efforts, will see the Hamburg native bumped down to world No. 3 going into the Paris major. The Spaniard denied Zverev a maiden major last June over five sets to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

“I have to move forward and I have to plan myself [for] Paris and do the best that I can there,” wrapped the 28-year-old.

Roland Garros has proven to be Zverev's most promising major of the four, with a 34-9 record and four successive trips to the semifinals or better.