Alexander Zverev calls out 'very bad journalism' as damning Ivan Lendl quotes that resurfaced 'more than five years old'

Alexander Zverev has responded to quotes which resurfaced in recent days about Ivan Lendl which were widely reported as new by a multitude of outlets surrounding his former coach. The quotes said that Lendl was more interested in his puppy and golf than him.

Zverev has spoken more recently about Boris Becker becoming his new coach than Lendl who now works with Hubert Hurkacz and he has moved to slam the quotes as fake news and that they were said five years ago.

"In Hamburg, only my father is there as a trainer. Ivan got a puppy two months ago, which he is now teaching how to go to the toilet. That's really his main focus at the moment: golf and the little dog,” Zverev said at the time.

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"I told him openly that he should focus more on tennis. Sometimes we stand on the tennis court for two hours, and for half an hour of that he stands with his back to me and talks about how he played golf that morning."

He hit out at journalists for having nothing better to do with the Australian Open a few weeks away and said that he has not made any comments really since Turin no mind about Lendl who he said he hasn't spoken about in five years.

"So, apparently I gave an interview about my coaching relationship with Ivan Lendl recently, which is not true.

“In fact, I have not spoken to anyone from the press since my foundation event in Tannenhof one day after Turin, and I have not made any comments about my coaching relationship with Ivan Lendl in more than five years.

"I understand that everybody is very bored right now because it is the off-season and not much is happening except a lot of hard work, but this shows once again that some stories have to be completely made up by very bad journalism to keep readers interested in made-up drama. See you all soon in Australia.”