The Zverev brothers return with another family tale. As he heads onto the courts of the 2024 Shanghai Masters, Alexander Zverev is disclosing family secrets while facing dangerous opponents. He was just sidelined from a medical stay and missed the China Open in Beijing. But Zverev’s trajectory is far from average. Growing up in a sports-oriented environment, his connection with his parents had both advantages and disadvantages. In the tennis world, few stories are more compelling than Zverev’s and his family relationships.
During an episode of his podcast ‘A BIS Z’, Alexander is joined by his brother and co-host, Mischa Zverev. The brothers discuss his professional tennis career, among other issues. Their guests, Carmen and Robert Geiss, urged them to elaborate on a fairly interesting topic: “How was it for you two? Did you act it out in the same way your parents did?”
Zverev offered a hilarious but informative reflection on his upbringing. Both sons received early training from their father, Alexander Mikhailovich Zverev. However, Alex confesses that Zverev Sr was far stricter with his older brother than him: “The reason my connection with my father works so well, even as a coach and companion in tennis, is because he had Mischa before, and that strictness helped him a lot. He relaxed with me after 20 years. He’d had enough,” he explained.
Mischa, as the firstborn, felt the heat from their father’s intensive training methods, which focused on scheduled drills and precise repetitions. Call it typical Soviet-style coaching. Alexander had a different experience. His upbringing was more balanced, allowing him to pursue his potential without the weight of expectations, he continued, “It was odd, I must say, because Dad was much stricter with you. “That is how it is.”
Last month, he admitted that he rarely spends time with his father outside of the court. “Well, off the court, I spend absolutely little time with my father, so that’s a beginning point. We’ve had enough of each other on the court. But, hey, we’re all grown ups. We all have families of our own. “We all know how it is to have a family,” Alexander stated at the US Open. But when it comes to coaching, the 2021 Olympic winner has regularly turned to his father.
Zverev previously worked with various celebrity trainers. He signed former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero in July 2017, but the partnership lasted only six months. Zverev then added Ivan Lendl to his staff in August 2018. The former world number one spent a year with Germany’s team. Sascha had also engaged David Ferrer to work with his father in July 2020. However, the couple ended their relationship in January 2021. His father then took over for him. In May 2022, Alexander began working with Sergi Bruguera.
However, they ended their relationship in May of last year. At this time, Alexander had stated why he preferred his father to Bruguera. “My father, Sergi, and I disagree on how I should pursue tennis following my accident. I had another opinion. I wish to return to my previous route and this comfortable setting. “The differences in opinion were perhaps a little greater than we anticipated after the injury,” he explained. Alexander believes that having no disagreements with his father is extremely essential to him, citing how bad things have gone with some other players.
“I know that some players have a bad relationship with their parents who coach them. There’s plenty of fighting going on. There is a lot of disputing. There’s a lot of, you know, unhealthy stuff, I’d say. I must emphasise that this is not the situation with us. We understand each other as soon as we leave the court, and on the court, it’s all about practice and improvement’, Alexander explained. Stephanos Tsisipas’ conflict with his father Apostolos is a recent example of this.
It was at its worst during this year’s Canadian Open, when the Greek star lost in R2 to Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori.
Midway through the match, Tsitsipas yelled at his father to “immediately leave.” Tsisipas’ former physiotherapist Jerome Bianchi had revealed deep-rooted difficulties in the partnership earlier in September, saying, “Their style of operating is detrimental. Every time Stefanos wanted to end his relationship with his father, his mother hurried away and cried, ‘You can’t do this to him; he committed his life to you. And he felt guilty. He realises that he is getting older and that his career has not been as successful as it could have been.”
Clearly, there is no ill blood between Alexander and his brother. While both players saw opposite sides of their carers, the latter did something right. Mischa reached his professional pinnacle in 2017. Reached a career high of 25th place before retiring from the sport in 2021. In 2021, while under his father’s instruction, Zverev won six ATP titles, including Olympic gold and the ATP Finals, marking his 300th career win. However, his season this year has been somewhat rocky.
Alexander talks out about his health issues this season.
Following the 2024 Laver Cup, Zverev was hospitalised due to lung irritation, forcing him to withdraw from the China Open. Despite returning for the Shanghai Masters, he claimed exhaustion in a press conference prior to the tournament, saying, “I still feel like I’m a little more weary than usual. But either my season is over, or I’m playing as good as I can.”
Despite his condition, he faced the task on the court. He stated that his physicians informed him that playing would not hamper his recuperation. “It’s nothing that will delay the recovery or will make it worse if I play,” Zverev told me. “That’s why I’m here, and I’m happy to give my 100 percent of what I have.”
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