Alexander Zverev said that he wants to be remembered for his tennis after his battle with overcoming his emotions on the court in recent years.
Zverev's quest for a second Canadian Open title continued as he reached the semi-finals in Toronto with a 6-7 (8-10) 6-4 6-3 victory over defending champion Alexei Popyrin.
Indeed, the German defeated the reigning champion at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career, having lost each of his previous five such matches.
The top seed also claimed a 155th career match win at an ATP Masters 1000 event, equalling Grigor Dimitrov for the most of any player born since 1990.
But Zverev is yet to reign supreme in a grand slam, having reached three major finals at the Australian, French and US Open, but lost all three of those matches.
His 74% win percentage at grand slam events is the best among players not to win a major title (minimum 10 matches), triumphing in 111 of those 149 encounters.
"I want to be remembered for my tennis," Zverev said when asked about his self-command and how he has learned to manage his emotions over the years.
"I want to be remembered for what I've achieved on the court, for what I've done on the tennis court. Also for the good things I do outside the tennis court as well.
"There's quite a lot of work that I do with my foundation, and with my family as well, which can be beneficial and helps people around the world.
"So I would much rather be known and remembered for that than the outbursts that I used to have, right? That's just something that at some point it just comes."
The 28-year-old's latest appearance in a major came at Wimbledon, where he lost in the first round to Arthur Rinderknech.
Zverev reached the final at the Australian Open at the start of this year, losing to Jannik Sinner before being knocked out in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros.
He now holds a record of 39-14 in 2025, lifting the ATP 500 trophy in Munich, reaching the quarter-finals in Rome as well as advancing to the showpiece match in Stuttgart.
Zverev's deep run in Toronto has also seen him reach a notable milestone in his career.
After victory over Matteo Arnaldi in the third round, Zverev became the first player born since 1990 to claim 500 match wins at ATP-Tour level – including team events.
By rallying past Popyrin, he also became the second active man to advance to 75 semi-finals after Novak Djokovic (196) in ATP Masters 1000 events.
"I lost in the first round of Wimbledon, so I had a month off," Zverev said. "I think these are the biggest tournaments that we have on the ATP Tour.
"We're fighting for big things here. It's a privilege to play in these kinds of events."
Zverev will take on Karen Khachanov in Toronto for a place in the Canadian Open final.
