Alexander Zverev has criticised newspaper reports which recycled five-year-old quotes about his relationship with former coach Ivan Lendl. A German publication published an alleged interview with the tennis star in which he had criticised Lendl.

Zverev was coached by Lendl for 11 months from August 2018. He claimed towards the end of their relationship that the Czech was more interested in training his dog and that he would spend many of their training sessions talking about golf.

“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.

“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.”

However, those comments were re-reported over the weekend and were subsequently misinterpreted as new quotes. Zverev has criticized journalists for printing his thoughts on Lendl, slamming it as “very bad journalism.”

The 27-year-old wrote on Instagram: “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.”

Zverev is hoping to build on the momentum of a positive 2024. He reached the final of the French Open, losing against Carlos Alcaraz, and the semi-final of the Australian Open. He won titles in Rome and the Paris Indoors.

His form at Roland Garros saw him reach the second Grand Slam showdown of his career. His only previous appearance in a major final came at the US Open in 2020.