ATP Finals: Andy Murray’s old team are in town to give Sascha Zverev a capital boost

Hair apparent: German youngster Sascha Zverev is hoping for an end-of-season bonus by winning in London — but is well aware of the talent lying in wait for him
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9 November 2018

Andy Murray may be missing from the ATP Finals at the O2 from Sunday, but there are echoes of Murray in Sascha Zverev’s box for the coming week.

Ivan Lendl, who coached the Scot at the time of his first Grand Slam success in New York and first Wimbledon win a year later, will accompany the German, along with Jez Green, for a long time the man behind Murray’s punishing fitness regime.

Zverev laughs at the suggestion he is copying Murray but knows there are worse career paths to follow.

“Obviously, I’m not trying to rebuild Andy or anyone else’s thing,” he said. “It’s just both Ivan and Jez are great people at what they do, and they’ve done great things with Andy.”

There are parallels between Zverev and both Murray and Lendl, the latter pairing taking until 24-25 to make their Grand Slam breakthrough.

At 21, Zverev has time on his side, but just one Grand Slam quarter-final appearance — at this year’s French Open before injury — does not do justice to the talents of a player tipped to take over from the ‘big four’.

He has grown accustomed to the tag, but countered: “I try not to think about it as I don’t think there’s a next big thing. I just want to be the best I can be, and work hard for the future.”

When he began in the professional ranks, he was haunted by pre-match nerves against the big four, now he relishes such opportunities.

“It’s not nerves any more, it’s just I enjoy playing the very best,” he said. “Their results show they’re still the best, but that’s what you want to face.”

He looks likely to face just that at the O2 and is seen as the best-placed to upset Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Of that possibility, he said: “Of course, I’m coming here to win. It’s a great tournament, with a great atmosphere. It’s really not like anything else, as you play against a top-eight player in your first match. There’s no time to settle.”

It is a format that inevitably throws up anomalies, namely Nikolay Davydenko’s victory at the first event here in 2009 and, again, Grigor Dimitrov last year.

Unsurprisingly, Zverev said: “The big favourite is Novak. He’s barely lost recently, but I feel I have a chance. To be in London for a second straight year shows I’ve had another good season. I’ve played more finals and semis, I’ve made a first Grand Slam quarter-final.”

But he knows he is far from the finished article, which is where Lendl comes in. “He’s very good at simply telling you how to play the game,” he said. “It’s a long process — and it’s not going to happen in one week here.”

As for Lendl’s former charge, Zverev believes Murray will be back mixing it with the very best, although admits early 2019 could come too soon.

“He’ll be back, but I don’t know how quickly that happens,” he said. “It depends on what people expect. If it’s to win Wimbledon near year, I don’t know. He just needs to go top 50 first, then top 30 — and he’ll get there.”

In Murray’s absence, Kyle Edmund has taken over the position as British No1 moving up to a career-high 14th in the world before injury ruled him out of Paris last week and brought his season to a premature conclusion.

As for the suggestion that Edmund could be among the players to vie with Zverev for future dominance, he said: “That’s a tough question because there’s a lot of guys that will be better next year. Kyle is certainly one of them.”

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