ATP Finals: Alexander Zverev and Ivan Lendl – The Grim and the Young Star

The final at the ATP Finals in London (7pm, live on Sky and in our LIVE-TICKER) will be the first big joint appearance of Alexander Zverev with his new coach Ivan Lendl.

When Alexander Zverev had made it to the big semi-final coup against Roger Federer on Saturday evening, Ivan Lendl almost showed a supernatural impulse. A fine smile scurried over the face of the naturalized American, then he shook the hand of Zverev’s father, Alexander senior, approvingly. And then Lendl quickly put his impenetrable face back on, his notorious poker face. Lendl was certainly proud of his protégé, but showing this pride and satisfaction as a responsible coach is not part of his character repertoire.

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“I’m not a theatre actor,” Lendl once said about himself – and by that he meant that he couldn’t and didn’t want to play a role in public. Pretend something he’s not. But one thing is certain, and that is even before the last rallies at the last game of the last tournament of the year, before the ATP World Cup final between Zverev and world number one Novak Djokovic: Lendl’s commitment to the best player of the next tennis generation is having an effect. And creates facts in a sport that ultimately defines itself through results and not impressions.

In contrast to other appearances on large tennis stages, Zverev made regular gains in the decisive World Cup moments in London’s O2 Arena, scoring with a previously unknown attitude and sovereignty. This could already be seen in the decisive group game against his friend Isner, but even more so against the master player and clever tactician Federer. “We work incredibly meticulously and methodically in match preparation,” says Zverev, “Ivan has an answer for every question, for every problem. He’s also a very funny, sociable guy.” After disappointments, Lendl left him enough time “to come down”: “And then we discuss in peace what went wrong. Not in the heat of the moment.”

Relationships between professional players and trainers at this level are above all a delicate question of mutual recognition and authority. Zverev had already said as a teenager that there were few people in the tennis world who could probably “really help” him. Becker, the German old master, was of course one of them. But Lendl fit just as well into the profile of the young skystormer, the Lendl who had been a companion of Papa Zverev. This year, a few months of negotiations took place behind the scenes before Allianz was ready to start in the run-up to the US Open. Although Zverev failed miserably on the first few metres in New York, even against the German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber, his expectations were different – even at the ATP final today, by the way.

“The first real changes with me will be seen next year,” said Zverev in London. Changes also and above all in the Grand Slams, where Zverev’s performance has so far been below average. Which doesn’t change the fact that Lendl, the champion of unmoving facial expression, has already moved a few screws in Zverev’s play and mentality. Movement literally fits here, because the 21-year-old seems more agile in his play, in his tactical approach. And in the way he mentally presents himself as a commercial traveller when it comes to tennis.

Zverev has not lost his passion, occasionally the old rage and anger breaks out of him. But it is no longer self-destructive, destructive and disturbing as it often has been in the past, but a short-term impulse to move forward. “I myself didn’t like the way I sometimes lost control,” said Zverev before the World Cup tournament, at which he now recorded his greatest career success ever, the disenchantment of Federer, the over-figure. Zverev made no secret of the fact that he had engaged Lendl also because of his successes with Andy Murray. The British hopeful had twice entered a liasion with Lendl, it brought him incomparable success in his career: The triumph in Wimbledon, Olympic gold medals, first place in the world rankings. And also the World Cup title, back home in London.

“He reassured me as a gambler. He was a firm authority,” says Murray today about the grim trainer, who occasionally became the target of mild spotting by scene viewers on the Internet because of his bitchy nature. But always against the background that nobody, nobody from the large army of genuine and self-proclaimed experts, questioned his qualities as a tennis whisperer. What about a man who, with his uncompromising work ethic, transfers a new professionalism into his sport? “We can only congratulate Alexander Zverev on his choice of coach,” said John McEnroe recently. Which can mean something: The hotheaded New Yorker was once Lendl’s most legendary opponent and bitterest rival.