‘Confused’ Zverev gets advice from Federer in stands

Germany’s Alexander Zverev secured his seventh win in nine career head-to-heads against John Isner on Saturday with a 7-6(5) 6-7(6) 10-5, win at the Laver Cup in Boston.

The pair went to toe-toe before Zverev forced a forehand error from Isner to take the first set.

The second went a similar course, as both were locked at 4-4 before another tiebreak decided the set.

Isner’s big serve gave the German some problems and he was soon ahead 3-0, before Zverev fought back to 6-7 with a astern back hand pass but Isner then wrapped it up and tied up the match.

And that third was was another thriller that went to the wire wutb Zverev eventually breaking through in a 10-point Laver Breaker.

“We could have just skipped two hours of tennis and gone straight to three tiebreakers,” Zverev joked. “Both of us had the belief that we could break each other.”

Zverev received some conflicting advice in the second set, some of it coming from his bench, some of it coming from Roger Federer in the stands.

“My entire team was telling me to step back on the returns; then Roger is behind me telling me to step in on the returns. I was confused,” Zverev said.

“I didn’t know who to listen to. Do I listen to eight people on the bench, or do I listen to 20 Grand Slams over there?”