Australian Open: Alexander Zverev aims to topple Andy Murray as he leads charge of next generation
Another generation of players is lining up to challenge the Big Four’s reign at the top of men’s tennis
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Your support makes all the difference.The much-anticipated changing of the guard led by the likes of Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori has yet to happen – and indeed may never materialise – but another generation of players is lining up to challenge the Big Four’s reign at the top of men’s tennis.
Having so far resisted that first wave of young pretenders, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer may eventually find themselves swamped by a second group of talented tyros. Nick Kyrgios, who has already beaten Federer and Nadal, and Borna Coric, who has claimed the scalps of Nadal and Murray, head an emerging young cadre that also includes Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung and Thanasi Kokkinakis, while the player reckoned by many to be the most exciting prospect will make his Australian Open debut on the second day here tomorrow.
Alexander Zverev, who at 18 is the youngest player in the world’s top 100, will take on Murray for the second time in less than a fortnight, having lost to the world No 2 in the Hopman Cup in Perth in their very first meeting in the opening week of the season.
The 6ft 6in German is already an imposing figure with a big serve and bold ground strokes but looks sure to grow rapidly in stature – in terms both of his talent and his physique – in the near future. Zverev’s physical trainer is Jez Green, who helped to turn Murray from a scrawny teenager into the powerhouse he is today.
“I think Jez is one of the best – if not the best – physical trainers in tennis,” Zverev said. “He did an unbelievable job with Andy because Andy was quite skinny as well when he was 17 or 18. He was physically not the best but now he is probably the best athlete in the sport. He is probably the strongest and the fittest.”
For the last two winters Green has put the world No 83 through gruelling eight-week training blocks. “I am quite skinny still and the main goal is to make me stronger and prevent injuries,” Zverev said.
The former world junior No 1, who currently weighs in at 13st 7lb, is rapidly filling out his impressive frame. “I’m putting on weight through muscle,” he said. “I put on about five kilos this off-season and about four kilos in the last off-season. In the last two years I have put on about 10 kilos. It’s quite a big change for my body, which I have to get used to. But that is one of the most important things about this game – to get stronger and to get fitter to be prepared for five-set matches.”
Zverev struggled to handle his newly acquired physical strength at the start of last year, but won on his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, beating Teymuraz Gabashvili in the first round, and went on to beat Kevin Anderson in Washington a month before the South African beat Murray at the US Open.
Green is not the only connection between Murray and Zverev, whose brother Mischa, the world No 171, knows the Scot well from their days together on the junior circuit. “Andy has known me since I was three or four years old,” the younger Zverev said. “We communicate a lot.”
Zverev also has a good relationship with Federer, who invited the young German to hit with him last summer and has repeated the invitation a number of times since.
“We hit for maybe 30 minutes and then we sat on court for 45 minutes just talking to each other,” Zverev said of his first workout with the Swiss. “He’s always been helpful. He always gives me tips on how to act on court, how to behave in different moments, how to behave against different players. He’s been really great. He’s helped me a lot.”
How quickly does Zverev expect his generation to make its mark on the current ruling elite? “I think Nick [Kyrgios] could be the first one just because he’s older,” Zverev said. “Hopefully it will start happening soon, but we all know that we’re not there yet and we all know that we’re going to have to work really hard to get there.
“We see how all the other players are still trying to improve to keep us away from them. Everybody knows that Novak gets better and better with the years. Andy plays really great tennis right now too. They are all trying to work really hard to keep us away from the top and keep it to themselves.”
Murray, meanwhile, will begin his attempt to shed the unwelcome tag of being the only man who has ever lost four Australian Open finals and never won the title.
“I do think that this is a tournament where I consistently play my best tennis but I am going to need to do something a little bit special here if I want to win it,” Murray said.
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