Alexander Zverev Sr.

Alexander Zverev Sr.

Country (sports)	Soviet Union
Residence	Hamburg, Germany
Born	(1960-01-22) 22 January 1960 Sochi, USSR
Height
Plays	Right-handed
Singles
Career record	3–16
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 175 (18 March 1985)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (1985)
Wimbledon	1R (1986)
Doubles
Career record	4–4
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 307 (18 March 1985)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	1R (1986)
Medal record Summer Universiade 1985 Kobe Singles 1985 Kobe Doubles 1983 Edmonton Singles Friendship Games 1984 Singles Goodwill Games 1986 Moscow Doubles

Alexander Zverev Sr. (born 22 January 1960) is a former professional tennis player from Russia who competed for the Soviet Union.

Career

In 1979, the Russian made his first appearance for the Soviet Davis Cup team.

Zverev was a bronze medalist in the men's singles event at the 1983 Summer Universiade won a singles gold medal at the Friendship Games, which were held in 1984. He did better than two years earlier at the 1985 Summer Universiade, winning both the singles gold medal and the doubles gold medal, partnering Sergi Leonyuk, with whom he was also a gold medalist in the 1986 Goodwill Games.

He appeared in three Grand Slam tournaments during his career. In the 1985 Australian Open he qualified for the main draw and was beaten in the opening round by Tim Wilkison. Again playing as a qualifier, Zverev met Tim Mayotte in the first round of the 1986 Wimbledon Championships and was defeated in straight sets. As a mixed doubles player he took part in the 1986 French Open, with Svetlana Cherneva.

Zverev played mostly on the Challenger circuit, where he had victories over two top 50 players, Andrei Chesnokov and Jan Gunnarsson. He did however make the second round of the 1985 Geneva Open, a Grand Prix tournament.

He played his final Davis Cup tie in 1987 and retired having taken part in 36 rubbers, from which he won 18. One of those was a doubles win over the Czechoslovak pairing of Libor Pimek and Tomáš Šmíd, the latter ranked number one in the world for doubles at the time.

Personal life

In 1991, Zverev and his wife, professional tennis player Irina Zvereva, relocated to Germany. Their son, Mischa Zverev, was born in Russia but grew up in Germany and represents the family's adopted country on the ATP World Tour. Another son, Sascha, turned professional in 2013.