Alexander Zverev has admitted he felt “flat” due to fatigue during his semi-final loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the 2026 Shanghai Masters.

The world No 2 fell 7-5, 4-6, 3-6 to 26th-ranked Davidovich Fokina in the last four at the Masters tournament on Saturday.

Zverev, who was the top seed in Shanghai, was chasing his third title of 2026 after his victories at the French Open and the US Open.

The 29-year-old German was aiming to win his maiden Shanghai title and his eighth Masters 1000 crown overall.

In his post-match press conference, Zverev was asked what made the difference.

“I mean, I think, first, I’m not a robot, I’m a human being (smiling), I get tired. It’s like this,” said Zverev.

“After the US Open, I had one day off in total. I think I played a lot of tennis, which is very, very positive because that means I played well.

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“I think even here I had tough matches. I personally feel like I was quite flat since the Bublik match, because I was losing energy.

“I played a phenomenal match against Alex de Minaur, but today I was flat. Even in the first set, even though I won the set, I was flatter, I was not reacting so well.

“I was returning quite badly. But I think, again, we’re all human beings — even the best players in the world.”

Zverev was also asked about his struggle to return Davidovich Fokina’s wide serve to his forehand.

“Oh, I mean, again, I knew that he is serving there, but I still, I think the return is the most difficult shot when you’re a bit fatigued because the first thing that gets tired in tennis I think is your eyes,” he replied.

“I knew that the serve was going there, I was with it on the racket most of the time, but I was missing it, I was not returning inside the court.

“So, again, credit to him, he played the way he was supposed to play. He played a pretty good match, I thought. It’s okay.

“Like, it’s okay to lose for me because I feel like I’ve done well. And I feel like, again, we’re all human beings, we all can get a bit fatigued, it’s normal.”

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