“He helped me a lot” Alexander Zverev reveals how Roger Federer grooms the new players on the Tour
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Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev has proved that he is one of the best in the current crop of players and the German has showcased it since he was a teenager starting on the Tour. Zverev turned Pro in 2013 and had broken into the Top-100 in a year winning his first ATP title in 2016 and has so far won 19 titles.
Of his 19 titles, 2 came at the Year-End Championships, from 9 ATP-1000 finals he has won 5 titles so far while winning 4 ATP-500 titles and 7 ATP-250 titles having played in the finals of 29 tournaments where he has finished runner-up on 10 occasions including the 2020 US Open where he was just 1-set away from winning his maiden Grand Slam title.
As the 24-year old cements his place as one of the top players in the generation, the German talked about Roger Federer‘s contribution towards his career apart from being a childhood idol. Zverev’s early rise and Federer’s longevity made sure that Sascha got his chance to play and win against his childhood idol but also have a lot of interactions about managing life off the court.
“We haven’t spent as much time together lately, and he’s not the type of guy that has a lot of phone contact. You need to be in person to have a great relationship. He was a role model when I was at a young age and just started being on tour. He’s somebody who likes to talk to young guys and give advice.
“Which he did with me when I was 18, 19, 20, what it’s like to be on top in the rankings and how to handle media, how to handle sponsors and all that. We had a lot of conversations at a younger age, and I think he helped me a lot in that regard,” said Zverev in his recent interview with Haute Living.
Alexander Zverev leads Roger Federer in head-to-head
Zverev first met his idol Federer in the 2nd round of the 2016 Rome Masters with Roger winning the match in straight-sets. However, it did not take too long for the German to achieve his dream as he defeated Federer in the semi-finals of the 2016 Halle Open just a month later becoming the first teenager since Andy Murray in almost a decade to defeat Federer.
Federer then beat Sascha in the finals in the 2017 Halle Open with Zverev avenging this with a win over the Swiss Maestro in the finals of the 2017 Montreal Masters. After one more win each, Zverev beat Roger in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Shanghai Masters to take a 4-3 lead in the head-to-head.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)