Sascha Zverev in legal dispute with his former manager Patricio Apey

It’s a tough moment for some “new champions” that are embroiled in legal battles.

The WTA world no.1 Naomi Osaka has just been sued by her former coach Christophe Jean, and now Sascha Zverev (the ATP world no.3) announces that he is in a legal dispute with his former manager Patricio Apey.

During a recent interview in Miami, Sascha commented “Now it’s public. We are in court against my old manager.”

Who is Patricio Apey?

Patricio Apey used to be the manager of Andy Murray, and he was pivotal to help the Brit to secure lucrative deals.

During a recent interview, he commented

“Managing top sportsmen is a job that has evolved in certain aspects during my time working in this field. I worked with Andy Murray in his formative years, and that went well on and off the court, but so much depends on the athlete you are working with and their desire to maximize their talent.”

Why Apey was happy to partner with Zverev

During an interview with Tennis365, Apey commented

“His ability is there for all to see and he is also a wonderful athlete to work with. To have a player who is 6’6”, blonde hair, blue eyes and is an incredible talent on the court, this is certainly good for the game, and the key for us is there is no rush here. I have worked with a lot of tennis players down the years, and you can never rush them. You give them the right platform to perform, and from there, you see how far they can go.

Every time we look at where Sascha is and ask where he might be in 18 months time, he gets there inside six months. We have been working with Sascha since he was 16 and now he is 21. We said it would take five years for him to deliver on the potential we can all see he has and now he looks ready to do that.”

Will Zverev be managed by Federer’s company?

According to reports, Sascha may partner with Team 8 that is the tennis agency owned by Tony Godsick that is managing Roger Federer and the Swiss is one of the shareholders.