Alexander Zverev clinches ATP final’s
The last German to win ATP finals was in 1995. Boris Becker did that two years before ‘Sasha’ was born in Hamburg to parents of Russian origin. [Sasha is pet name for Alexander in Russia]. This title win of Zverev in London last week, at the ATP final’s is the biggest Men’s Tennis boost for Germany in over 20 years. Zverev never stopped impressing the world in the last three years. He was a top end junior and in recent times, one of the new generation players in the ATP’s spotlight.
After this stellar performance in London Zverev is mere 35 points behind the legend Roger Federer in the ranking at 4 at 21 years of age. Federer has 6420 points and Zverev has 6385 points. Alexander Zverev is six foot six inches tall and the youngest ATP final’s title winner to date.
Change in game plan
Zverev turned professional in 2013, ranked 1537. After getting into the top ten of the world he never went back. Hanged in and been climbing. Money-wise he is already 47th biggest all time earner. It is not easy walking past the big timers like Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. Djokovic beat Zverev in the round robin stage of the ATP finals this year very convincingly 6/4, 6/1. That was Zverev’s second loss to Djokovic in the last six months. Zverev weathered all that well and bounced back.
Zverev’s brand of Tennis changed dramatically when he qualified into the semis finals of ATP Finals in London. Zverev beat Roger Federer in the semi-final and then Djokovic in the finals. There was a distinct game plan change and tactics in the semi-final and in the final Zverev played.
Ivan Lendl
In August Ivan Lendl came into Zverev’s coaching team. For information and reminder, Ivan Lendl was one of great exponents of the game and dominated for decades. Zverev was mostly coached by his father, Alexandrovich Zverev, whom Sasha and Micha, both consider to be the best coach they ever had. Now Lendl is available to do the finishing work. Very few have the experience of Lendl in the professional Tennis and to coach. Lendl also coached Andy Murray and took him to be world’s number one.
By any standard Lendl is a serious man to work with. He himself was a perfectionist and will stand-by in wins and falls of his player as a coach. For this players respect him very much. When it comes to work he means business. While most player believe in moving the opponent to win, Lendl’s Tennis was based on restricting the player’s shot selection. It a tough and a blitzar tactical concept. Very few players have the ability to handled it well. Lendl was one of them. While moving the player tires and disturb opponent’s strokes, restricting the player’s shot selection frustrates the player and breaks the player internally. Another advantage of this is, it greatly reduces unforced errors as the players stays well within the parameters of the court safety zones.
Complicated but highly effective
To restrict an opponent’s shot selection, players will have to use a ‘heavy ball’ with spin and speed mixture, placing them in the mid third of the court length. Opponents will have to take high risk going for killer angles from there. It is easy to add speed going for the mid-section of the court. Lendl may have introduced this to Zverev. Most of Zverev’s ground strokes averaged 80 MPH.
To play 9 to 16 shot rallies at that speed, mind and body correlation needs lot of attention from the coach. It is not a visible aspect as stroke making but a sensory factor. Only coaches with great deal of tournament experience can operate at that level, Certainly Ivan Lendl is one of them. Zverev becomes a good potential to be the number one with Lendl by his side.
Match statistics
Zverev’s match statistics show his consistency came up even operating at high speed. Time squeeze and consistency is Lendl’s brand of Tennis when he walked past giants in his time. Zverev will move in this direction in 2019. The New-Gen players like Dominic Thiem and Greek Tsitsapas are also in this direction.
Services and returns are other two areas where a player can break down the opponent’s resistance. Zverev clocked nearly 80% first serve at 120 mph in the first set and 70% in the second set. 70% first serve is the bench mark to win in Tennis. With that in place Zverev’s return percentage increased noticeably. This certainly disturbed Roger Federer’s and Djokovic’s comfort zones.
Hidden tactical Trap
When served or a shot is played very fast, it is not only the opponent that gets less time. If such shots are returned by the opponent, the player is also subjected to time squeeze. Many hard hitters miss out on this hidden aspect and fall victim to their own tactical trap. Djokovic and Federer used speed well when they were younger. Now their own speed is working against them. Zverev, Thiem and Tsitsapas in their early twenties are at an advantage with speed.
The ATP’s 2018 wrap-up in London was an impressive event. It did well to launch the 2019 calendar.
George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Sri Lanka & Brunei, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– contact 94 77 544 8880 geodano2015@gmail.com –