Ivan Lendl and Alexander Zverev Sr. have known each other for decades. Born six weeks apart in 1960 — Zverev in the Soviet Union and Lendl in Czechoslovakia — they played once as junior tennis players, in the semifinals of the European under-18 championships in Maribor, Yugoslavia. According to Zverev Sr., Lendl won, 6-3, 6-3.
“That was the only time we played,” Zverev Sr. said as he walked off the practice court at the United States Open with Lendl on Friday. “He was too good for me.”
In the summer of 1984, while Lendl was celebrating his first major championship at the French Open, Zverev Sr.