Alexander Zverev has shown great resilience at the 2024 Roland Garros, but it’s something he’s known for, even generally, and it’s all due to how he was raised in tennis.
The German player grew up around tennis, as his older brother Mischa Zverev was a tennis player. So, even as a kid, he learned what it meant to be a professional tennis player. As a teenager, he occasionally hit with legends of the sport, and it certainly left a lasting impact on him.
Another thing that shaped him as a tennis player was the approach his father took as a coach. Zverev calls it the ‘Spanish way’, which is to run after every ball and get it back in, even though his physical attributes are likely suited for a more different style of play.
“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.”
Zverev could indeed be more aggressive as a player because players with his physical profile generally tend to be very aggressive when utilizing that height. He does it with his serve as it’s a major weapon, but generally, he’s not a particularly aggressive player.
Sometimes, he wishes he was because maybe he’d have to run less, but overall, he’s winning, and when he’s winning, he’s happy, because it helped him to reach his fourth straight Roland Garros semi-final.
“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.”
