Alexander Zverev’s explosive baseline aggression, towering presence, jolting two-handed backhand and occasional racquet-smashing hijinks evoke comparisons to a young Marat Safin.
The 20-year-old German won five titles, including Masters crowns in Rome and Montreal, to finish the season ranked No. 4.
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Zverev’s style and success has earned the support of Safin, who swept Pete Sampras to win the US Open at age 20.
The Hall of Famer told Sky Sports he believes Zverev will be the next young player to break through to the top of the sport.
"For me, Zverev, I think," Safin told Sky Sports. "Plus he has a good coach, [Juan Carlos] Ferrero. He was a good player and has done good work with him.
"He is number four in the world, so he can manage, so let's see. The rest [of the young stars], we'll wait for next year.”
Zverev added former world No. 1 Ferrero to his coaching team midway through the season, joining his parents, father and former ATP pro Alexander and mother Irina, who taught him his strokes, and fitness trainer Jez Green, who previously worked with Andy Murray.
While Safin praised former rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as "superstars" for dominating the 2017 season, he questioned "what is wrong" with the younger players who could not break the world's top two hold on Grand Slams.
"[What] impressed me was [when you consider] the rest of the players. They are still winning and crushing everybody," Safin said of Nadal and Federer. "I think, well, they [Nadal and Federer] are superstars. What is wrong with the juniors?
"Players used to retire by the time they got to 30. At 32 you were a dinosaur. Now you see players who are still running at the age of 38. The upcoming young guys just aren’t at a high enough level. If you can still manage to run at the age of 38 and still be No 1 in the world, it means there must be something wrong with the other players.”
The 37-year-old Safin said when it comes to coaching, he’s an individualist and not a big believer in today’s trend of hiring former champions as coaches.
“I’m not following the trends of the people, I think we should go the opposite way,” Safin told Sportel TV. “When everybody goes the one way, you should go the other way—that’s my opinion.”
Safin was actually ahead of the coaching curve.
The mercurial Moscow-born baseliner briefly worked with former world No. 1 Mats Wilander as coach in what Safin now calls a failed experiment.
“Well, I traveled with Wilander for some weeks, it didn’t work for me,” Safin said. “Even though it was interesting. But I think for them it’s helping them on a certain level, but I don’t know on what level it helps them, but still I think it makes sense (for them). I’m not there yet.”
Safin suggests a key to a successful player-coach dynamic is the player must be receptive to coaching and be “normal…in the head.”
“It depends who is the person? Who are the parents? Who is the kid?” Safin said. “If you want to help somebody, you want to help somebody who is normal…in the head. With a normal family, with a normal background. You don’t want to help with the people who are not there yet to be helped.”
Coaching runs deep in Safin’s family DNA.
Mother Rausa Islanova coached both Marat and sister Dinara Safina, who share a record that may never be broken as the only brother and sister tandem in history to rise to world No. 1.
Since her retirement, Dinara Safina has dabbled in coaching. Safin suggested he may launch his coaching career—or perhaps future Davis Cup captaincy—when the gray hair starts to sprout.
“Maybe in the future, yeah, I’m getting a little bit older,” Safin said. “Gray hair, I look smart, I look more sophisticated and then I start to coach. Because now they would never listen to me.”
Photo credit: International Tennis Hall of Fame