He no longer respected the guidelines - Ferrero offers rebuttal to Zverev

Following Alexander Zverev's claims that an argument caused a split with Juan Carlos Ferrero, the Spaniard has offered a rebuttal.

Juan Carlos Ferrero has had his say on his split with Alexander Zverev, claiming the German lacked discipline and did not follow his guidelines.

Zverev appointed Ferrero as his coach last July, but their working relationship came to an end at January's Australian Open following the world number five's loss to surprise package Hyeon Chung.

Speaking at the Mexican Open on Thursday, Zverev attributed the split to an argument with Ferrero at Melbourne Park and claimed the Spaniard was disrespectful to other members of his team.

But Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, says that Zverev's attitude towards his methods deteriorated as he became more successful.

In quotes reported by Marca, he said: "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. 

"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 plenty of positives from his time working with Zverev.

He added: "I am left with the experience of having helped him to win his first two Masters [titles]."