It is safe to say that Alexander Zverev had a forgettable campaign at the Italian Open. Having previously won the title in Rome on two occasions, he was considered one of the top contenders to win the tournament this year as well. But a shocking 6-1, 6-7, 0-6 fourth-round defeat to Luciano Darderi is where those hopes seemed shattered. Well, disappointments didn’t only follow the German on the court. Things were pretty much the same off it as well.

When the players aren’t playing at the Foro Italico, you might see them enjoying dinners at luxurious restaurants that are close to the courts. It isn’t a shocking thing to spot them relishing the delicious food that the Italian capital has to offer. Zverev also had a plan to eat at one of these restaurants along with his elder brother, Mischa Zverev and a friend. The World No. 3 had recently visited the famous Japanese restaurant Zuma but was left stranded at the entrance. Turns out that he didn’t have a reservation and wasn’t recognized by the staff either.

The awkward moment was witnessed by former Italian politician, Andrea Ruggieri. According to him, Zverev’s group was left waiting outside before they decided to leave and dine somewhere else.

“I went to dinner at Zuma Rome’s on the terrace and under the entrance I found an incredible scene: Alexander Zverev with his brother Mischa and a friend of theirs, sawed off at the entrance,” Ruggieri said on the TennisTalker podcast.

According to him, the incident had occurred at around 10:15 PM. After being refused to enter the restaurant by the staff, Zverev asked if they would at least be able to grab a drink or two from the bar. However, the bar wasn’t scheduled to open before 11 PM. At this point, Ruggieri himself wanted to intervene and tell the staff that the three were with him. But it seems that Zverev & Co. didn’t want to get into too many conversations and peacefully left for another restaurant.

Soon after, Zverev’s trip to Rome would conclude even worse as he got knocked out early at the Italian Open. The grueling three-set match between him and Darderi would go on for two hours and 28 minutes. While the 29-year-old looked to be in complete control at one stage and even had had match-points on four occasions during the second set tiebreaker, he fumbled big time and not only lost the set but also got bagelled in the decider.

After the match, Zverev blamed his defeat on the court present at the BNP Paribas Arena for his defeat and felt that he would have won the match if it weren’t for the windy conditions at the Italian capital.

“To be honest, the court, I think this is the worst court I’ve ever played on. Juniors, professional, futures, practice, I never played on a court where the court quality is that bad. I have a match point, and the ball jumps over my head. I have a break point, the ball rolls. I should have won the match in two sets. That’s just the story from there,” he said during his post-match press conference.

Interestingly, Zverev wasn’t alone. World No. 14 Andrey Rublev also shared similar criticism of court conditions.

Andrey Rublev also criticizes the court conditions at Italian Open

In a recent chat with Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salmon, Rublev remarked that he has had difficulty in gauging his shots properly due to the windy conditions in Rome.

“I had a chat earlier with Andrey Rublev, and he said you can’t play tennis. He said ‘I was hitting balls that I thought were going to go out, and then they were winners. They were ridiculous conditions, you cannot play like this,” Salmon said.

Not just this, Rublev had also delivered a blunt assessment of the courts that are being used at the French Open these days. He also said that the clay-courts in Italy do not remind him of the conditions at Roland Garros.

“No, I don’t see any similarities at all. I don’t know, now in recent years in Paris, especially if you don’t play at the stadium, then it’s like you’re not playing on clay at all – it’s slippery, concrete, and there is not much sand. I don’t even know what it looks like… Nothing,” he had said in an interview with Championat.

Despite his criticism of the conditions in Rome, Rublev has racked up three wins at the Italian Open and has advanced to the quarterfinals. He will be taking on the in-form Jannik Sinner next, who holds a 7-3 lead over the Russian in the H2H record. The World No. 1 is also on a 26-match winning streak and is a heavy favorite to clinch his maiden title in Rome.

Will Sinner continue his dominant record against Rublev, or will the latter go on to cause one of the biggest upsets of the season so far? Drop your predictions in the comments!