Zverev criticizes the standardization of surfaces: "There used to be a real difference between clay and hard courts".

Alexander Zverev kicked off last night's Masters tournament with a solid victory over Andrey Rublev. In a press conference, the German was asked about playing conditions in Turin and expressed his disappointment at the uniformity of the surfaces.

As was the case at the Paris Masters 1000, the ATP has published this season's court speed index, including that of the Masters, which turns out to be a slow court (see photo below).

Zverev confirmed this at his press conference: "I find the court very slow. Too slow for an indoor court. I'm not complaining because I love slow surfaces.

But I think that in today's tennis, there's a lack of different styles of play. Clay courts and hard courts have practically the same playing speed. The only exceptions are Cincinnati and Paris.

There used to be a real difference between the two. We've lost something by standardizing the surfaces. When Roger Federer was playing, there were major differences between the surfaces."