Ivan Lendl has resigned as the coach of Alexander Zverev following the German’s comments on his issues around his coaching style recently.
The former world number one, Lendl, who was Zverev’s coach when he went on to win the ATP Tour Final last year – the German’s only major title so far in his talented, yet unfulfilled career – stepped down after the German’s second round win at the Hamburg Open yesterday.
This follows Zverev’s criticism of Lendl’s coaching style in which he exhorted him to be more committed instead of speaking of “his dog or a round of golf”.
And given Lendl was Andy Murray’s coach during the time the Brit won three majors including two at Wimbledon, these comments came as a huge surprise. Even former Novak Djokovic coach Boris Becker had claimed things weren’t great between the two and the partnership might not last for a long time.
Lendl said in statement:
“I have a lot of belief in Sascha who is still very young. I think that one day he may become a great player but currently he has some off court issues that make it difficult to workin a way that is consistent with my philosophy.”
Meanwhile second seeded Zverev worked his way to a straight-set win over Federico Delbonis in their second round match at Hamburg. The German was trailing 3-0 before overcoming his opponent 6-4, 7-6 (2). He will now take on Filip Krajinovic of Serbia who was a 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1 winner over Martin Klizan in their second round encounter.
Alexander Zverev questioned Ivan lendl’s work ethic. I’ve been friends with Ivan for 30+ yrs, I’d question his jokes but never his work ethic. “When it comes to work ethic I am quite comfortable that my record speaks for itself” said Lendl who worked with Andy Murray a long time
— Craig Gabriel (@crosscourt1) July 25, 2019
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