STARNBERG, March 4, 2018

Following Alexander Zverev‘s explanations that an argument during this year’s Australian Open caused a split with the World No. 1, the 38-year-old Spaniard has now offered his version of the events.

Ferrero answers Zverev, saying in Spanish daily sports newspaper As, that Sascha kept arriving late to his practice sessions.

“What I asked from the first day is to respect the team. Among other things I asked him to be a little more punctual, telling him that it was not right that he would arrive 20 or 30 minutes late to training day after day,” Ferrero commented.

“The first months he was more disciplined and respectful, but when he got more confident he no longer respected the guidelines I marked out at the beginning.”

Despite the seemingly acrimonious split, Ferrero still took a lot of positives from his coaching partnership with Zverev.

“I am left with the experience of having helped him to win his first two Masters titles,” the 2003 Roland Garros champion added.