Alexander Zverev - Germany's best tennis pro

Created: 05/01/2022Updated: 05/01/2022 15:44

Alexander Zverev © IMAGO/Frank Hoermann/SVEN SIMON

The German tennis pro is a person with many rough edges, both on the tennis court and in his private life.

Worth knowing about Alexander Zverev.

Munich – Alexander Zverev, who was born in Hamburg on April 20, 1997, will compete at this year's French Open as a player in the extended circle of favorites.

Why just “extended circle of favorites”?

The season so far has been rather mixed for Zverev (nickname: "Sascha"): Highlights in 2022 so far have been (as of April 27, 2022; note) a semi-final at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo, the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami and the final at the ATP 250 tournament in Montpellier.

For the media, the third in the world rankings (as of April 27, 2022; note) is a "fodder" for a wide variety of reasons: both because of his sporting achievements and because of his private life as well as because of his emotional "slips" on the court, Germany's best provides Tennis players always make headlines.

Alexander Zverev - the beginning of his career

Alexander Zverev was practically born with the talent for success: His father Alexander Mikhailovich Zverev, who was born in Sochi, Russia, was a tennis player in the Soviet Union, played for his country in the Davis Cup from 1979 and still works as a coach today.

Mama Irina Swereva is also a former tennis coach.

In 1991 the family moved to Hamburg.

Zverev developed a love of tennis from an early age - when he admired his big brother Mischa, who is also a tennis pro, on the court.

Alexander Zverev was trained for a long time by his father Alexander Mikhailovich, who initially concentrated more on the career of Alex's brother Mischa, who was almost ten years his senior.

The longer and more intensively Alexander Zverev dealt with the topic of "tennis career",

all the more it became clear that Mischa is not the tennis talent of the family, but his smaller brother Alex.

From now on, the Zverev family put all their energy into supporting Alexander Zverev, who even left school in 1997 after the tenth grade to concentrate fully on tennis.

A decision that soon turned out to be the right one, because Alexander Zverev has been Germany's greatest tennis hope since Boris Becker for years.

Alexander Zverev - first successes

Alexander Zverev achieved his first major success in 2013 when he reached the final in the junior singles of the French Open.

He played his first match on the ATP World Tour in July 2013 at the age of 16.

As number one in the junior world rankings, Zverev then - as the first German ever - closed the year 2013.

Zverev won his first major title in 2014 in the junior singles competition at the Australian Open.

Also in 2014, Alexander Zverev won his first professional title at the Challenger tournament in Braunschweig.

In June 2015, Zverev took part in the main round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

In September 2016, Zverev won his first ATP tournament in Saint Petersburg against Stan Wawrinka,

Alexander Zverev - career highlights

The next title in Munich followed in May 2017, as well as his first Masters 1000 victory in Rome, which was to have far-reaching consequences: With his final victory over Novak Djokovic, Zverev was among the top ten players in the world for the first time in May.

At the US Open 2020, which had to take place without an audience in September due to the ongoing corona pandemic, Zverev even fought his way to the final.

In New York's Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zverev then lost - despite a two-set lead - to his Austrian friend Dominic Thiem in a dramatic duel over five sets.

In 2021, Alexander Zverev took part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo for the first time.

He made it to the final, won against Novak Djokovic and thus the first Olympic victory as a male tennis player for the Germans.

At the end of 2021, Alexander Zverev won the ATP finals of the most successful tennis professionals of the year for the second time.

After a hard-fought semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic, Zverev gave defending champion Daniil Medvedev no chance in the final.

Alexander Zverev - his greatest successes on the ATP tour

• 2021: 6 tournament wins, tournaments: Turin, Nitto ATP Finals (indoor/hardcourt), Vienna (indoor/hardcourt), Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000 (outdoor/hardcourt), Tokyo, Olympic Games (outdoor/hardcourt), Madrid, ATP Masters 1000 (outdoor/clay), Acapulco (outdoor/hard)

• 2020: 2 tournament wins, tournaments: Cologne 2 (indoor/hard court), Cologne 1 (indoor/hard court)

• 2019: 1 tournament win, tournaments: Geneva (outdoor/sand)

• 2018: 4 tournament wins, tournaments: London, Nitto ATP Finals (indoor/hardcourt), Washington (outdoor/hardcourt), Madrid, ATP Masters 1000 (outdoor/sand), Munich (outdoor/sand)

• 2017: 5 tournament wins, tournaments: Montreal, ATP Masters 1000 (outdoor/hardcourt), Washington (outdoor/hardcourt), Rome, ATP Masters 1000 (outdoor/sand), Munich (outdoor/sand), Montpellier (indoor/hardcourt)

• 2016: 1 tournament win, tournaments: St. Petersburg (indoor/hardcourt)

Alexander Zverev - his greatest successes on the ATP Challenger Tour

• 2014: 1 tournament victory, tournament: Braunschweig

• 2015: 1 tournament victory, tournament: Heilbronn

Alexander Zverev - his Grand Slam statistics

AF: Round of 16

VF: Quarterfinals

HF: Semifinals

F: Final

R: Round

Q: Qualifying round

Alexander Zverev – his private life

His private life is just as exciting as his career or his matches: in 2019 he was in a relationship with ex-"Germany Next Topmodel" candidate Brenda Patea, who became pregnant during the relationship: on March 11, 2021, daughter Mayla saw it Light of the world.

Despite this, the couple went their separate ways after a few months.

Shortly after the separation, Sophia Thomalla entered his life: In October 2021, the two publicly announced their relationship.

The model now accompanies Alexander Zverev regularly to his tournaments, and the two allow the public to take a look at their private lives on their social media channels.

Alexander Zverev - his "loudest" headline

Girlfriend Sophia Thomalla once said in an interview that the relationship would work so well because she would be a rather quiet person and Alexander Zverev would be a very emotional person.

He has already proven several times how emotional Germany's currently best tennis player can be.

His most recent misstep: At the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco (2022), after an actually insignificant defeat in doubles, Alexander Zverev hit his tennis racket several times against the referee's chair on which the referee was sitting.

Zverev almost hit the referee's foot, whom he had loudly insulted several times shortly before after a controversial decision.

The men's organization ATP reacted immediately and excluded Zverev from the further course of the tournament because of "unsportsmanlike conduct".

Days later, Alexander Zverev admitted to having made "the biggest mistake of my tennis career" in Acapulco.

"It's hard to put into words how much I regret my behavior.

I have privately apologized to the chair umpire because my outburst to him was wrong and unacceptable and I'm only disappointed in myself," he said on Instagram.

Alexander Zverev - not everyone knows that about the German superstar

• In November 2015, Zverev received the ATP's Stars of Tomorrow Award.

  In 2021 he was voted Germany's "Sportsman of the Year".

• Alexander Zverev is fluent in German, Russian and English.

• In 2021 he took part in the Pro7 show "Schlag den Star", but was unable to assert himself against his competitor, the professional handball player Silvio Heinevetter.

• His best friends on the tennis tour include his brother Mischa, the Austrian Dominic Thiem, the American John Isner, the Brazilian Marcelo Melo, the Russian Karen Khachanov, the Swiss Belinda Bencic, but above all his dog Lövik, Alexander Zverev on many accompanied by tournaments.