Thomas Muster thinks that Alexander Zverev is much too joyless on the court. “What I don’t like about him is his body language,” said the Austrian in an interview with Sport Bild about the 21-year-old.
During these days Alexander Zverev and his buddy Marcelo Melo had themselves photographed in unusual clothes. Both wore a monk’s robe with hood. The Brazilian double specialist even held a wooden cross in his right hand. Both looked deadly serious, but it is unmistakable: the rogue is on their necks. The duo has a sense of humor.
Thomas Muster, however, who was once such a pitiful left-hander on the court, is a little surprised about the other Zverev. “The more I watch him, the more I think: Why doesn’t he enjoy what he’s doing?” asked the 51-year-old and said: “He’s a very good player. But there’s always this riot with him that makes him seem so joyless.”
And Muster, a man who says what he thinks, has a guess as to why the fifth in the world’s ranking is not always fun to watch. “I’m sure he’s under a lot of pressure.” The whole family is “completely” focused on him. “But he should realize what a privileged position he is in as a tennis professional,” explained Muster.
The French Open winner of 1995 does not know that not least Ivan Lendl could help the younger Zverev brother mentally. “I like Zverev’s idea of getting Ivan on board,” stressed Muster, adding critically: “But not as a coach. More like a consultant. As a coach, Ivan and I are too old for this generation, in my opinion.” Zverev is currently preparing for the ATP finals starting in London on Sunday.
Muster went relatively hard into court with today’s generation of players. The power density used to be “much higher”. “From my time, I can think of more winner’s names today than there are now: Lendl, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi, Sampras, Wilander, to name but a few”, stressed the Leibnitzer, who won 44 individual titles on the ATP Tour in his career.
Many of these ex-players are better known “than many of the current players are.” But why is that? Muster believes he has found the reason: “We used to say things to each other that you can no longer afford today. Because today everything is recorded, everything can be used against you. You’ll get a shitstorm.” This prevents the development of personalities.
Muster also cleared up the widespread rumour that he and Boris Becker were at best linked by a mutual dislike. “We got on very well. Boris is still an incredible guy”, said the former “King of Clay” and suggested: “The life of Boris Becker has to be filmed.”