Alexander Zverev has brought eight-time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl on board to help him take his game to the next level. The No. 4 player in the ATP Rankings made the announcement on his Instagram account.

“Welcome to the team Ivan Lendl”, Zverev wrote. He also shared photos of his entire team, including Lendl, and of Lendl watching him practise at the US Open, which starts Monday.

The 21-year-old German is also coached by his father, Alexander Zverev Sr. Alexander Zverev split with former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in February after eight months with the Spaniard.

The 58-year-old Lendl brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience. The American spent 270 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, third all-time behind Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. He works for USTA Player Development and helped Andy Murray ascend to No. 1 for the first time, win three Grand Slam titles and a pair of Olympic golds.

Zverev has won three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles and reached a career-high No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. But the 6’6” German has made only one Grand Slam quarter-final (2018 Roland Garros, l. to Thiem).

The pathway to holding serve for the Top 10 is not as straightforward as you might expect. With each point won or lost in a service game, outcomes vary and the percentage chance of holding serve rises and falls.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the point score in a service game, and the corresponding win percentages, sheds new light into the different ways elite players navigate their way to the finish line of holding their serve.

The data set includes 27,399 service points from the Top 10 on the Monday after Wimbledon from the start of the 2015 season up to and including The Championships in 2018.

Roger Federer and Kevin Anderson lead the Top 10 in winning the opening point of their service games and surging to 15/0. When Federer has gone to 15/0 during the past three and a half years, he has won an astonishing 95.9 per cent (1766/1840) of his service games. In 2018 alone, Federer has dropped serve only nine times (335/344) after leading 15/0.

Best Record Moving to 15/0

With two points completed, eight of the 10 players are more likely to be sitting at 30/0 than any other scoreline. The two outliers were Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, who were more likely to be at 15/15 than 30/0.

Federer again led the field, getting to 30/0 52.8 per cent of the time, while John Isner rose up the leaderboard to second place at 50.5 per cent. When Isner has led 30/0 on serve in the 2018 season, he has dropped serve only one time, winning 258 of 259 service games.

Best Record Moving to 30/0

All players in the Top 10 had a higher percentage chance of being at 30/15 than either 40/0, 15/30 or 0/40 after the first three points of their service game.

Juan Martin del Potro had the highest percentage chance of hitting 30/15, finding himself at that scoreline in about 46 per cent of service games. When the Argentine has led 30/15 since the start of the 2015 season, he has held 93 per cent (708/761) of the time.

Most Likely To Be At 30/15

The most likely outcome after four points for the Top 10 is to be at a scoreline of 40/15. Isner was the best performer at this scoreline, navigating his way to 40/15 43 per cent of the time.

The most likely scoreline after five points are played is game over. All of the Top 10 average holding serve more than 50 per cent of the time from this scoreline, with Isner leading the way at a commanding 60.9 per cent.

Holding Serve After Five Points

And this is a look at the average game score of our Top 10 group after five points have been played:

Game = 54.7%
40/30 = 30.7%
30/40 = 14.6%

This fascinating deep dive into point score and win percentages uncovers that a point score in a game for the Top 10 progresses from Love-all to 15/0, 30/0, 30/15, 40/15 and finally game. But it’s not always as smooth sailing as that.

Third seed Kyle Edmund improved to 6-2 at the Winston-Salem Open on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Argentine Leonardo Mayer. Edmund, who received a wild card into the ATP World Tour 250-level tournament, dominated on serve, winning 93 per cent of his first-serve points and never facing a break point.

He will next meet Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who knocked out 13^th seed and countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3. Carballes Baena saved four of five break points.

Eighth seed Steve Johnson saved the only break point he faced and beat #NextGenATP American Tommy Paul 7-6(7), 6-2. “Happy to move on… Tommy is a good competitor. He’s got a live arm for a smaller guy, and he’s a talented kid,” Johnson said.

He will next meet Spain’s Jaume Munar, who won 61 per cent of his second-serve points to win a #NextGenATP battle against Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 in only 60 minutes. “I think it was a very tough match. Rublev has a great game, hard strokes. So for me it’s difficult, but I think I did a very good match,” Munar said.

Sixth seed Hyeon Chung, the reigning 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals titlist, fought past Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(4), 6-2. Their second-round match resumed on Tuesday with Chung leading 5/2 in the first-set tie-break after rain suspended the contest Monday night.

Dramatic comebacks were the theme of Day 1 at US Open qualifying, with a bevy of players storming back from a set down to reach the second round.

Making his Grand Slam qualifying debut, Sebastian Korda turned in an impressive 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 comeback over countryman Dennis Novikov on Tuesday. Boys’ champion at the Australian Open earlier this year, Korda stormed back from a set and a break down, eventually prevailing after one hour and 53 minutes.

With his mother and father, former World No. 2 Petr Korda, in the crowd, the American teen battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the second set and recovered once again after conceding a break to open the decider. He will hope his good run of form continues against Argentine veteran Facundo Bagnis on Thursday. 

“I just stayed in there and fought my hardest,” Korda told ATPWorldTour.com. “I saw that he was struggling a little bit and I took advantage. I started playing really well after that. It feels pretty good. And I had my dad and my mom here and that’s always great to have them supporting me. I’ve had some tough three-set losses against some good players this year, so it feels good to get it done.”

Korda wasn’t alone in providing the heroics on Tuesday. In front of a packed crowd on Court 11, Christian Harrison overcame former World No. 10 Ernests Gulbis 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. The Louisiana native faced a 0/40 deficit while serving down 4-3 in the third set. He would deny four break points to stay alive and eventually triumph after two hours and six minutes.

“I was just trying to think about playing the next point,” said Harrison following the match. “Nothing really crazy, but just thinking about how I want to execute. It was awesome to see so many fans come out too. I wasn’t expecting this at all. It’s great for the players and makes it a lot more fun for us.”

Harrison, who made his US Open main draw debut as a qualifier in 2016, is hoping to replicate that dream run this week. The 24-year-old seems to have a flair for the dramatic, having rallied from a set down in all three qualifying matches that year. He faces #NextGenATP Spaniard Pedro Martinez on Thursday.

Other Americans advancing to the second round include JC Aragone, who edged Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(5), and Evan King, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Christian Garin. Both made their Grand Slam debuts last year as qualifiers. Also, Bjorn Fratangelo downed Roberto Cid Subervi 6-3, 7-6(4) and awaits Dominican veteran Victor Estrella Burgos next.

In a highly-anticipated all-Aussie clash, Thanasi Kokkinakis also rallied from a set down, upending Bernard Tomic 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in one hour and 25 minutes. The 22-year-old fired 20 aces and saved five of six break points to advance on Court 12. Kokkinakis is riding a wave of momentum after lifting the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Aptos, California, two weeks ago. It was his first singles title in three years.

“I gave him the break by hitting three double faults in my first service game,” said Kokkinakis. “In the second set, I tried to make a few more balls and put a little more effort in myself. Then it was one-way traffic. The crowd was packed and it didn’t feel like first round of qualies. But I need matches like this.”

Other notable winners on Day 1 include #NextGenATP stars Hubert Hurkacz and Lloyd Harris. Hurkacz, No. 9 in the ATP Race To Milan, routed John-Patrick Smith 6-3, 6-2, while Harris dismissed Roberto Quiroz 7-6(5), 6-3 in a swift 79 minutes. The South African is in the midst of a dominant 12-2 stretch after winning his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Lexington, Kentucky, earlier this month.

The first round continues on Wednesday, with top seed Jozef Kovalik and Americans Ernesto Escobedo, Reilly Opelka, Christopher Eubanks and Ulises Blanch opening their qualifying quests.