US Open: Examining the Alexander Zverev and Ivan Lendl partnership
Zverev faces Peter Polansky in first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday
Tuesday 28 August 2018 08:04, UK
If Alexander Zverev has any ambition of becoming a Grand Slam champion, then he has certainly gone about it in the right way by appointing Ivan Lendl as his new coach.
Zverev posted a picture on Instagram of Lendl and his coaching staff on the practice courts at the US Open last week with the caption "Welcome to the team Ivan Lendl", where the world No 4 officially announced the highly regarded Czech to his coaching setup.
He will be hoping the appointment of Lendl will see the former world No 1 propel him to the next level especially at Grand Slam tournament play that has seen the 21-year-old's quarter-final run at this year's French Open being his best effort to date at major level.
A lot has been made of Zverev, with many believing he is a future world No 1 if not a multiple Grand Slam champion in the making.
With that being said, he is yet to make a significant impact when he comes to Grand Slam events, while the wait continues for one of the next crop of talented young guns to upset the apple cart and knock Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer off their perch.
Enter Lendl, the man who transformed the career of Andy Murray. Lendl led the former world No 1 to three Grand Slam titles. He was able to take Murray from being a brilliant counter-puncher into an aggressive baseliner who was all about seizing the moment and taking the game to his opponent at key stages of matches.
Lendl accepted nothing but 100 per cent from Murray during their tenure together and if he felt like he was not getting maximum effort on and off the court then he was out of the door. Right off the bat this is the mentality Zverev will have to adopt if his partnership with Lendl is going to be a success.
Former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero briefly coached Zverev last year but ultimately their run did not stand the test of time. Ferrero claimed Zverev's unprofessionalism of arriving late to training as to being one of the reasons their relationship abruptly ended.
Speaking to Marca, the former French Open champion said: "What I asked from the first day is to respect the team.
"Among other things I asked him to be a little more punctual, telling him that it was not right that he would arrive 20 or 30 minutes late to training day after day."
There is no denying Zverev's incredible talent. The German at only 21 has already won three Masters 1000 events, most recently at the Madrid Open where he beat Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Lendl has an exciting job on his hands. What the Czech will add to the Zverev's game is more consistency - at times Zverev's biggest weapon being his forehand can become his biggest downfall that has seen him spray forehands and get tight on that wing. Look for Lendl to fine-tune that area of Zverev's game for it to become an even bigger weapon moving forward.
He will be also looking for Zverev to become more aggressive from the baseline and ultimately move up the court and finish points at the net. Zverev has been known to go into his shell when the going gets tough so that is something Lendl will be hoping to eradicate from the 6'6 German's game.
For Zverev, knowing that you have a man in your player's box that will only accept the best from you from day one will surely have a positive impact on your approach to the court - so expect to see a polished and extremely motivated German at the US Open.
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Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Laver Cup in September while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports. But first, we will be across the US Open in New York, right through to the final with live blogs, reports, features and reaction.
