If sport were the only thing, Alexander Zverev could look back on 2020 with great satisfaction.
Two tournament victories in Cologne, the best Grand Slam record so far with the semi-finals in Melbourne and the first final at the US Open: Before the start of the ATP finals in London on Sunday, which two years ago hosted Zverev’s largest so far Success, the next big coup seems only a matter of time.
The sport itself was just not always the dominant topic for number 7 in the world rankings.
A series of negative headlines – mostly because of his missteps in dealing with the corona crisis – have recently been followed by serious allegations of domestic violence by his ex-girlfriend Olga Sharypova.
The best German tennis player is fighting for his reputation more than ever. It is not without reason that he recently brought on board a well-known specialist for delicate situations.
Ex-government spokesman Béla Anda as crisis advisor
In the course of Sharypova’s most recent allegations, it became public that Zverev is now being advised by Béla Anda, the former government spokesman for ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Anda – formerly also vice editor-in-chief of image and communications manager for the financial services provider AWD by Carsten Maschmeyer – is now the head of a PR agency that has specifically specialized in “crisis communication”.
The man who was once supposed to put Schröder’s Agenda 2010 in the right light should now do the same for Zverev: You can see the dimension in which the 23-year-old now moves.
Anda only started getting involved at the end of last week, at the time during the Paris Masters it was an acute issue “to make sure that he can concentrate on tennis at this important tournament”, as he spoke to SPORT1 explained.
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Alexander Zverev changed management in 2019
It is not the first time that Zverev is reorganizing its environment, only last year there was a management change to the marketing agency Team8, behind which superstar Roger Federer and his long-time manager Tony Godsick are – accompanied by a bigger row his former stakeholder, the Chilean ex-professional Patricio Apey.
The public image of Zverev was already a topic at that time, the 1.98 man, known for his sometimes ugly outbursts of emotions on the square, has also earned a reputation as a difficult character outside the court, came across as aloof, narrow-lipped, often became arrogant at public appearances felt.
Especially in Germany, many strangers to the sporting heirs of the national favorites Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, which according to observers was a homemade problem.
“He and his manager have focused on the international market and are convinced that he will become a world star,” wrote the Munich-based journalist and author Alexis Menuge recently in a Zverev portrait for the leading French sports medium The team: “He didn’t take the media seriously in his home country, where he is not really liked.”
Multiple irritations due to Corona
From Anda’s point of view, Zverev was recently well on the way to changing his focus and drawing a different picture of himself. “Many journalists have told me that his public appearance has changed for the better, that Alexander Zverev has become more accessible and open,” he reports: “At the beginning of the year at the Australian Open and most recently with his tournament victories in Cologne.”
However, the charm offensive was thwarted by the various incidents with which Zverev drew criticism: Participation in the controversial Adriatic tour at the first high point of the corona pandemic, the party at which he was then in the supposed self-quarantine was caught in Monaco, the concealment of symptoms of illness at the French Open, in contradiction to the self-imposed hygiene rules of the tournament.
Again and again, the younger son of the Russian tennis couple Alexander Swerew and Irina Swerewa left the impression that he did not understand the scope of his actions and words – he frankly talked about the secret illness in the press conference after the French Open.
For crisis advisor Anda, the question arises as to how fair the public’s expectations of a 23-year-old young sports star are: “On the one hand you want players who are open, who don’t think twice about every word, but on the other hand are it has also become part of our culture that those who are open can often get the lid on. “
Violence allegations by Olga Sharypova cast shadows
The corona incidents already burdened Zverev’s reputation not only at home, but also appeared in the New York Times a critical work-up. The author was Ben Rothenberg who was well informed about many tennis fires – including the even more weighty quarantine scandal surrounding Sam Querrey. Rothenberg was then also the journalist Sharypova used for the second, more detailed part of her Zverev charge in the Racquet Magazine opened.
Zverev had previously rejected the allegations with a statement on Instagram (in which he also addressed his fatherhood with his future partner Brenda Patea), since then he has only referred to the case indirectly, most recently with a defiant speech after the lost final of the Paris Masters (“Everything is great in my life. People can keep trying, but I’m still smiling”). Otherwise, Anda also recently referred to Zverev’s original statement and his hope to find a “sensible and respectful approach” to Sharypova.
With the contradicting representations, however, there is still simply one statement against one statement, Sharypova does not strive for a legal reappraisal, the question of guilt or innocence remains unanswered.
A new kind of shadow remains. How serious will it be for Zverev’s career? Despite all professional attempts to limit damage, this is far from in sight.
