How on-court coaching pods almost helped Learner Tien upset world No.3 Alexander Zverev

“Yeah I get sick of them, but they don’t get sick of me because I pay for everything,” the German joked.

When asked if she preferred encouragement or tactical advice from coaches on court, eliminated teen quarter-finalist Iva Jovic said it depended on the situation.

“I don’t have a lot of experience yet with the whole on-court coaching, but in general, I’ve never been a person who went too much to the coaches,” she said on Tuesday.

“I usually like to figure things out on my own. So I don’t do a crazy amount of little tactical things. More just encouragement, and then maybe if there’s something that’s obviously going wrong, you give more specific tactical advice.”

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka said she was lucky her team “knows me better than I know myself”, joking she expects them to read her mind.

“Sometimes I need some tactical advice. Sometimes I just need them to cool me down,” she said with a laugh. “Sometimes I just need the support. Sometimes I want them to be quiet.”

Australian Open organisers closed the roof of Rod Laver Arena shortly before the quarter-final started – a welcome reprieve for the sunscreen-clad, sweaty spectators, but even better news for Tien and Zverev who would have been playing in full sun as the temperature climbed over 40 degrees at Melbourne Park.

Zverev took the first set in under 40 minutes, notching monster aces of 214km/h and taking his time between serves, receiving a time violation at one point.

Tien tried to counter Zverev’s style by speeding things up. At one point the American served with 19 seconds left on the clock.

The young star fought hard in the fourth set but failed to convert a crucial break point and missed the opportunity to force Zverev to a fifth set.

Zverev came to the net, hitting an impeccable drop shot to level scores and later won the tie-break with a string of aces.

He said Tien’s coach, the former world No.2 and Roland-Garros champion, had worked wonders on the 20-year-old’s game during the off-season.

“Without my 20 aces or something I probably would not have won today,” he said.

Zverev, who lost last year’s final to Jannik Sinner, will play the winner of Tuesday night’s clash between Alex de Minaur and Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals.

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