After his defeat in the final in Madrid, tennis Olympic champion Alexander Zverev criticized the men's organization ATP for the late scheduling of his games.

"The work of the ATP this week was an absolute shame," said Zverev on Sunday after his clear 3: 6, 1: 6 against young Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz.

"Two days ago I went to bed around 4.00 a.m., 4.30 a.m., yesterday I went to bed at 5.20 a.m.," said Zverev.

He was referring to the late fixtures of the quarter- and semi-finals.

"If a normal person goes to bed one night at 4 a.m. and the next night at 5 a.m., it will be difficult for them to get up at all," said the German number one.

And for him, a final in a Masters 1000 tournament was on the program the next day, "against Carlos Alcaraz, who for me is the best player in the world at the moment," said Zverev.

All of this makes him "angry", explained Zverev after the match, which only lasted 62 minutes.

Alcaraz had beaten Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic one after the other in Madrid and then Zverev in the final.

“I don't want to belittle Carlos' performance at all.

Even if I had been fit, I probably wouldn't have stood a chance against him today," said the German number one.

"But it was difficult for me today.

I had no coordination on my serve, no coordination on my groundstrokes," said Zverev.

With the entry into the final, however, Zverev showed that his form curve is pointing upwards two weeks before the French Open in Paris.

From Madrid, the 25-year-old is now going to Rome, where the next clay court event in the Masters 1000 category is scheduled for this week.

In the first round, Zverev has a bye.

In addition to the new coach Sergi Bruguera, Zverev's father will also be back in Rome.

Alcaraz will not start due to minor ankle problems.

He wanted to be "at 100 percent" at the French Open in Paris (May 22 to June 5), said Alcaraz.

For Alcaraz it was already the fourth tournament win this year.

The Spaniard is the youngest tennis pro in ATP Tour history to defeat three top five players in a tournament.

In the world rankings published this Monday, the Spaniard will improve to sixth place.

"It was an incredible week for me," said Alcaraz.

Zverev already knew what to expect before the game.

"There is no limit for him," Zverev, who has only been in the final of the small tournament in Montpellier this year, praised his opponent in the final.

"This center court belonged to Rafael Nadal for 15 years, and it will probably belong to Carlos Alcaraz for the next 15 years," said the German number one, who won the tournament in Madrid in 2021.

Zverev was miles away from defending his title on Sunday.

Only at the beginning was he able to stand up to the crowd's favourite.

But the native of Hamburg gave up his serve for the first time to make it 2: 4, after which Alcaraz was unstoppable.

While the Spaniard hit almost every ball, Zverev made many slight mistakes and never found his rhythm.

The 25-year-old was clearly tired.

He had just finished his semi-final against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday morning at just after one o'clock.

Alcaraz, on the other hand, had significantly more time to regenerate, although on Saturday he was on the pitch for more than three and a half hours against world number one Djokovic.

But you looked in vain for signs of wear on the high-flyer.

Even his great idol Nadal wasn't that young when he first triumphed in the Spanish capital.

Alcaraz used his fourth match ball against Zverev after just over an hour.