Alexander Zverev says he is actively trying to curb his “unnecessary” behaviour between points following his Shanghai Open win over Alex De Minaur.

The US Open champion marched into the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 event on Thursday after beating the Australian 6-4, 6-4 in just 78 minutes.

Following his victory, the soon-to-be world No 1 admitted he is making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of ball bouncing he does between serves, something that was heavily criticised during his Flushing Meadows triumph.

At the final Grand Slam of the year, Zverev reportedly bounced the ball 12,000 times, which added nearly 2.5 hours to his time on court. After his quarter-final victory, he spoke about trying to be quicker between points after taking it to the “extreme” in New York.

Zverev said, “He [the chair umpire] was telling me to look at the shot clock when I was serving. I don’t know why but I’m bouncing the ball a lot this year (laughing).

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“It started at the US Open. I don’t know why it started. I’m very aware of it, and I’m trying to work on it. I feel like it is a bit unnecessary from my end.

“I felt like today, especially on my serve, I was very quickly between the points, and I was waiting for him to get a towel quite a lot. Then he was there with, let’s say, 10 seconds to go, and then I bounce the ball, go through my routine, which takes a little bit of time, and then I am very close to running out of the shot clock. But I feel like if I had started it earlier, then I would be better on time.”

The 29-year-old was then pressed on if he had a number in his mind in regards to ball bouncing before serving. The 6ft 6in player said that wasn’t the case, but did stress he had brought that number down after the US Open.

He continued, “No, I just go when it feels right. But if you noticed, I am doing it less than I did in New York. I think it was going to an extreme for me in New York.

“I was not aware of it because my phone was off, I didn’t see social media and all that. I was only aware of it after, and I’m trying to work on it, for sure.”

Heading into this encounter, Zverev was troubled by an ankle issue, one that he sustained during his third-round win over Quentin Halys. The French Open champion said that this is an ongoing problem for him, particularly as it gets worse as a match goes on.

For the time being, though, the world No 2 is pushing through in his bid to win his first Shanghai Open title.

Zverev added after beating De Minaur, “I feel like today I was doing things outside of physicality so well that I didn’t need to be so physical. The longer the match goes, the worse my ankle gets.

“I feel like today I was able to play so quickly that I didn’t have to play long rallies, I didn’t have to play a lot of physical points. On the serve, I feel my ankle the most, but it comes from the physicality of the rallies beforehand. So, if that is not there, then it feels better on my serve as well.”

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