Alexander Zverev: How the quiet father shaped the son's success

When Alexander Zverev's second Grand Slam victory was confirmed on Sunday evening in New York, he briefly behaved like his father - completely calm. As a coach, the father sits in the stands at every match and doesn't even bat an eyelid when his son jokes about him in the winner's interview after a game. For tennis fans, the silent man behind the success of the best German tennis player since Boris Becker is as difficult to read as a book written in Cyrillic is for Western Europeans.

But Zverev junior's calm in New York was only because he had miscounted: He didn't know that he had already won the US Open final against Ben Shelton. When he noticed it, he let himself go, as is his wont.

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New beginning in Germany

Like father, like son: It works for the Zverevs, but never quite. Alexander senior was also a gifted tennis player. Zverev's mother, also successful in tennis, once described her husband to the "Tennis Magazine" as the "best volley player in the Soviet Union", as "elegant and slim, with a great feel for the ball and very fast legs".

Above all, Alexander senior was a victim of his time. The man from Sochi was rarely allowed to leave his home country for tournaments. He therefore never made it above number 175 in the world rankings and only took part in two Grand Slam tournaments.

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When the family started over in Germany in the early 1990s, the now sixty-six-year-old became a trainer in Schleswig-Holstein. The family later moved to Hamburg, where the father of two sons achieved something quite remarkable: he led his two children to the top of the world with two completely different styles. Zverev's brother (and current manager) Mischa made it to number 25 in the world rankings with serve and volley. Alexander Zverev has expanded his repertoire, but still lives primarily from the baseline game.

For a long time, Zverev and his father were accused of a lack of further development. The family had opened itself up to outside impulses several times - it never worked with another trainer over a longer period of time. It was always speculated that the bond between father and son must be too strong. What was once seen as a weakness now appears as a strength.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz may still be ahead of Zverev at their best. But they were rarely fit in 2026. This is the great strength of the German, who invests more than almost anyone over the entire tennis year: he is one of the fittest players on the tour. That's not surprising. The father and the family came to Germany with nothing. They worked hard for everything themselves. Now this approach to life is leading her son to success.