Alexander Zverev hits out after losing to Novak Djokovic at French Open

Alexander Zverev cited the chilly weather as a key factor in his French Open quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic.

The third-seeded German took an early lead with a first-set win but was unable to sustain his performance against Djokovic, who is a decade older, ultimately falling 6-4 3-6 2-6 4-6 in a match that had to be paused at one point due to an issue in the crowd.

Zverev's powerful serve failed to intimidate Djokovic, leaving him searching for alternative strategies to undermine the veteran's gameplay as they battled for a semi-final berth against Jannik Sinner.

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Zverev lamented that the cooler temperatures impacted him more than Djokovic, commenting, "It was very, very cold," and reflecting on his diminished serve speed.

He further explained his struggle with the conditions: "Again, as I said, I think when the sun completely went down, it was difficult for me to get through the court a little bit. It was difficult for me to find, you know, kind of ways to be dominant in the rally, because my serve was neutralized very well by him."

Zverev also expressed difficulty in maintaining aggressive play due to the weather saying, "Then also, I felt like my groundstrokes, every time I tried to be aggressive, I was not really doing much. It was difficult for me to find a solution, I think, in the cold conditions."

Although many only considered Djokovic a dark horse for clinching his 25th Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros this year, the 38 year old has breezed to the semi-finals, losing only one set.

Zverev cautioned against underestimating Djokovic, emphasizing that he remains a formidable opponent at this stage of the tournament.

"I think at the moment he's a bit underrated, to be honest," he said. "I think like a lot of people count him out already, but this year he's had wins over Carlos [Alcaraz] at the Australian Open, he has had a win over me at the French Open. Forget the age. I think for any player, those are pretty good results.

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"Of course you will have to ask him how he feels physically and how he will recover and if he'll be at 100 per cent for the next match, because I do think it was quite a physical match today for both of us.

"But, you know, he's still beating the best of the best, so I think everybody needs to respect that."