{"id":4721,"date":"2025-07-19T02:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4721\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T02:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:31:12","slug":"boris-becker-has-one-question-for-alexander-zverevs-coaching-team-as-he-gives-opinion-on-potentially-hiring-toni-nadal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4721\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris Becker has one question for Alexander Zverev\u2019s coaching team as he gives opinion on potentially hiring Toni Nadal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alexander Zverev may be about to make a big move following his shock defeat at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Travelling to SW19 as the number three seed, Zverev lost to Arthur Rinderknech<\/a> in his opening match, suffering his worst defeat at a Grand Slam in six years.<\/p>\n

Looking to make a change after such a disappointing result, Zverev has been seen training with Toni Nadal<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

\"ToniPhoto by Giampiero Sposito\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old Spaniard is best known for his time working with his nephew, Rafael Nadal<\/a>, whom he guided to 16 Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

Giving his verdict on Nadal and Zverev\u2019s potential coaching relationship, Boris Becker<\/a> has one big question to ask.<\/p>\n

Boris Becker wants to know what role Alexander Zverev Sr and Mischa Zverev will play if Toni Nadal is hired<\/p>\n

During the latest episode of \u2018Becker Petkovic\u2019, former world number one Becker shared his thoughts on the potential partnership between Zverev<\/a> and Nadal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give it a thumbs up if it\u2019s true, both of them have to confirm it first. But if it\u2019s true that Toni Nadal<\/a> is Alexander Zverev\u2019s new coach, then he\u2019s done everything right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Nadal] knows how to win Grand Slams. He\u2019s won every Grand Slam as a coach, he is a seasoned pro.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if Rafa [Nadal] comes along as a mentor from time to time and tells Sascha something, Zverev has to listen and believe him. I think the combination is really exciting. I wish them both only the very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becker did, however, have one question to ask, as he wondered how Nadal would fit into Zverev\u2019s current setup.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy question is, what does his father do? What does his brother do? Do they still play an active role in his tennis life?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\"MischaPhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does the box look like in Canada? What does the box look like at the US Open<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Toni likes to be interfered with in his training methods, in his strategic decisions, even though his father has a great understanding of tennis, and so does his brother. I think Toni either does it all or nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know how they will manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turns out, that\u2019s not the only question that needs answering, as Becker\u2019s co-host, Andrea Petkovic<\/a>, highlighted another potential issue Nadal and Zverev could encounter.<\/p>\n

Andrea Petkovic is concerned the partnership could fail due to Alexander Zverev\u2019s poor punctuality<\/p>\n

Petkovic is worried that Zverev and Nadal could encounter an issue when working together, which the German has struggled with throughout his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only concern I have is that I know Toni Nadal is very insistent about one thing, and it\u2019s not Alexander Zverev\u2019s strong suit. Punctuality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToni Nadal\u2019s an extremely punctual person and he insists on extreme punctuality. Alexander Zverev, not so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he can pull that off, then this could be a successful partnership, but it could fail precisely because Sascha shows up seven minutes late on the court for the first training session and Toni runs away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlexanderPhoto by Paul Kane\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Becker shared those same concerns, as he recalled what Nadal banned his nephew from doing when coaching him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re absolutely right. Toni is a discipline fanatic. He expects punctuality, and he also expects respect for the sport of tennis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows the history of tennis, I mean, Nadal has never smashed a racket on court in his life because Toni didn\u2019t allow him to.<\/p>\n

\u201cToni has very clear rules about what he allows and what he doesn\u2019t allow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whilst she clearly outlined the 27-year-old\u2019s problems with punctuality, Petkovic was keen to note how hard Zverev works.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably worth mentioning that Sascha is one of the hardest workers in the world. That\u2019s not the problem, just the punctuality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Working as hard as he has, Zverev has established himself as one of the best players in the men\u2019s game and is currently ranked third on the ATP Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RankNameAgeNationalityPoints1Jannik Sinner23Italian12,0302Carlos Alcaraz22Spanish8,6003Alexander Zverev28German6,3104Taylor Fritz27American5,0355Jack Draper23British4,6506Novak Djokovic38Serbian4,1307Lorenzo Musetti23Italian3,3508Holger Rune22Danish3,3409Ben Shelton22American3,33010Andrey Rublev27Russian3,110Current ATP top ten<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Zverev can close the gap to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the top of the rankings, but it will certainly be something to look out for as the season progresses.<\/p>\n

Zverev is scheduled to return to action at the Canadian Open, which begins on Monday, July 28.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Zverev may be about to make a big move following his shock defeat at Wimbledon. Travelling to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[5244,753,64,63,5873,85,747,5245],"class_list":["post-4721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-atp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boris-becker","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-toni-nadal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}