In Tennis, Alexander Zverev’s Many Trials

Mischa Zverev knows his little brother better than anyone.

A decade older than Alexander, who is also known as Sascha, Mischa has served as part-sibling, part-parent throughout Alexander’s life and tennis career.

When Sascha was 6, Mischa took him along while he was playing satellite tournaments in Australia, hitting with him after his matches and letting him ride on his shoulders on the way home from the beach. Now the little brother is ranked No. 2 in the world, reached the French and U.S. Open finals, won an Olympic gold medal and is about to play in his seventh ATP Finals. He also won his seventh ATP Masters 1000 event last week at the Rolex Paris Masters.

He has had his off-court travails over the last several years, including now-settled charges of domestic abuse and an on-court outburst during a loss in 2022, for which he was fined and placed on probation by the ATP.

“I do know what I did, I do know what I didn’t do,” he said this spring before the charges were settled. “That’s, at the end of the day, what’s going to come out, and I have to trust in that.”

Zverev, 27, won the ATP Finals in 2018 with back-to-back wins over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and then again in 2021 when he beat Daniil Medvedev in the final. The indoor tournament, which begins on Sunday in Turin, Italy, suits his style.

“There’s no wind, no sun, nothing to distract me too much,” Zverev said in September. “I like having to play at 100 percent from the first match on. And it helps to have past success at a tournament. That’s something you can keep in the back of your mind.”