May 7, 2023; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Former tennis player Roger Federer arrives for the Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome.

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‘Never Goes Through Our Head’ – Cincinnati Open Tournament Director Hits Back at Roger Federer & Alexander Zverev on Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner Favoring

Federer & Zverev previously stated that tournaments prefer an Alcaraz v Sinner final.

May 7, 2023; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Former tennis player Roger Federer arrives for the Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome.

Days after World No. 3 Alexander Zverev spoke about ATP tournaments favoring Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner by making court conditions across surfaces similar, Cincinnati Open tournament director Bob Moran has delivered a strong reply. Earlier, 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer also spoke about wanting to see Alcaraz and Sinner succeed on ‘lightning fast and super slow’ courts, as opposed to the current scenario.

Federer appeared on the ‘Served By Andy Roddick’ podcast with the former World No. 1, and spoke about the nature of court conditions on the present-day men’s circuit. “We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz and Sinner figuring it out on lightning fast courts, and then having the same match on super slow. Then we see how that matches up.” He also insinuated that it has made a strong case for tournament directors to favor an Alcaraz vs Sinner final, as it benefits the game.

Adding more fire to the debate, three-time Grand Slam finalist Zverev addressed the nature of courts at the 2025 Rolex Shanghai Masters. “I think the tournament directors are going towards that direction [of making all the courts play the same way] because obviously, they want Jannik and Carlos to do well in every tournament. That’s what they prefer.” Zverev was eliminated in the Round of 32 in Shanghai, after Sinner strongly denied any involvement in determining the court speed at events.

Alexander Zverev echoes Federer's sentiments when asked about the slower court speeds in Shanghai this year after his R2 win:

"I hate when [court speeds are] the same. And I know that the tournament directors are going towards that direction because obviously they want Jannik… pic.twitter.com/wO1ipKS9Xf
— Christian's Court (@christianscourt) October 4, 2025

Cincinnati Open Tournament Director Responds to Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev Claims

Among the current competitions throughout the tennis calendar, the Cincinnati Open has some of the fastest hard courts. Speaking with BBC Sport, tournament director Bob Moran refuted the claims of Federer and Zverev. “Trying to create something that benefits certain players never goes through our head – not even close,” he said. Over the past year, the courts in Cincinnati played faster than usual – and Moran suggested that they do not plan on slowing down the conditions any time soon.

Cincinnati Tournament Director Bob Moran responds to Roger Federer's claim that courts slowed to benefit Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/shzDvOQAa6
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) October 9, 2025

“We were fast, and we had Sinner and Alcaraz [in the final]. For the three years I’ve been doing this in Cincinnati, the players have come back to me that they feel [the courts are] fast – every player. What we were really striving for this year was consistency throughout the swing. When they hit the States in Washington DC, through to the US Open.”

“We all decided that we wanted to be in that medium-fast to fast range. Our goal – consistent speeds, consistent ball – that’s what we are being told by the players that they want.” According to data from CourtSpeed.com, the conditions at seven out of the eight Masters-1000 tournaments so far in 2025 have played faster than in 2017. However, it could be argued that this speed is more uniform and players do not need to alter their games across surfaces as much.

(Image Credits: John David Mercer, Imagn Images)

Alexander Zverev

ATP

Carlos Alcaraz

Cincinnati Open 2025

Jannik Sinner

Roger Federer

Rolex Shanghai Masters

Tennis

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.