"He forgets I'm 2 meters tall" - Alexander Zverev on father-cum-coach training him the 'Spanish way' as he discloses secret to his French Open success
Alexander Zverev overcame Australia's Alex de Minaur in straight sets to book his berth in the men's singles semifinals of the 2024 French Open. He defeated de Minaur 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4 in three hours and two minutes in his quarterfinal effort on Wednesday, June 5.
Zverev's serve was broken three times during the match but, in turn, he created five break points on de Minaur's serve and hit 20 winners. There were multiple rallies where the German was able to outrun the agile Aussie, as pointed out by Alex Corretja in the on-court interview.
The winner credited his father, Alexander Zverev Senior, for training him to run for the ball and extend the rallies. He likened Senior's coaching style to the one taught in Spain, saying:
"Luckily I have a coach who's my father who couldn't care less how I feel on the practice court. So, since I was three years old, it was always, ‘Okay run! Run here! Run there! Run for four hours straight’. He sometimes forgets that I’m two meters tall and I can hit a serve at 230 kilometers an hour. But he definitely taught me the Spanish way, you know, running for everything, putting the balls back in the court."
The World No. 4 continued:
"And sometimes it pays off. I wish I would be more aggressive sometimes, but if I’m winning, I’m happy and I’m in the semifinals and that’s all that matters."
Zverev Senior played professional tennis representing the Soviet Union and was ranked as high as the World No. 175 on the men's singles circuit. He and his wife Irina moved to Germany in the year 1991.
Alexander Zverev: "I like to work to my absolute limit"
In the conversation with Alex Corretja at Roland Garros on Wednesday, Alexander Zverev revealed he reserves the recovery period for the off-season and focuses only on pushing himself during the tournaments. He said:
"Everybody keeps on asking me what do I do for recovery and my answer is always very simple, you don’t recover after matches, you recover in the off-season, you do the work in the off-season and tennis becomes easy.
"I’ve a mindset that you’ve to work hard than everyone else to be the best player. I think the best players are all doing that. I like to work to my absolute limit."
Notably, this is Alexander Zverev's third consecutive semifinal qualification at the French Open. He will lock horns with Casper Ruud on Friday, June 7 for a spot in the final.
He has had five on-court battles with Ruud thus far, with their head-to-head tied at 2-2. Their first-ever meeting, quarterfinals at the Acapulco Open in 2021, ended with the Norwegian pulling out.