The Lovell Lowdown

Stories, thoughts and experiences from almost 30 years working in sport.

Sometimes a long trip to a football match can lead to something you really didn't expect.

November 2013.

I made the long trip to the Rhein to watch Bayer Leverkusen v Manchester United in the Champions League.

And it was absolutely freezing.

So cold that blankets were being handed out to the media in the press box.

I remember thinking that I'd never been so grateful to receive a blanket at a football match. ?

And the photo below? I have a feeling Mark Lomas may have been the man behind the camera.

Mark was Manchester United correspondent for ESPN at the time, and we got talking that night about football, Germany and the work I was starting to do around German football.

One conversation led to another.

A few weeks later, I was asked to do a test piece for ESPN on Bayern Munich.

That eventually became ESPN Bayern Munich Blogger.

And then, from 2014 to 2019, ESPN Bayern Munich correspondent.

Looking back, it's a good example of how things often happened in sports media back then.

You went to the games.

You met people.

You talked.

You built relationships.

There was no LinkedIn message, no Zoom call and no carefully crafted networking email.

Sometimes you just ended up sitting next to someone in a freezing press box under a blanket.

I'm probably a bit old school in that respect.

And perhaps that's why I'm currently pulling out the stops to get to another Champions League night in Munich.

Bayern Munich v Arsenal.

21 October.

Allianz Arena.

If anyone in my network is going to be around Munich that day and fancies a coffee, liquid refreshment or a chat about football, media or potential work, let me know.

After all, you never quite know where a conversation might lead. ?

How I ended up writing for the Atlanta Falcons

Sometimes the next job comes from somewhere you weren't expecting.

With the new NFL season getting underway recently, I was reminded of one of the more unexpected opportunities in my career...

Having lived in Germany for more than half my life, I'm now able to work in both English and German. That combination has opened some unexpected doors.

One of the best examples was my work with the Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons were entering their first season with international marketing rights in Germany, and one of their senior digital media people was a Bayern Munich fan who had followed my work during my time as an ESPN Bayern München correspondent unexpectedly got in touch.

There was no formal application. Just a conversation in the off-season about whether I could help produce German-language content for the Falcons.

One highlight was travelling to Wembley to cover the Falcons' game against Jacksonville, which was a great opportunity to experience the NFL from a different perspective and be part of the international side of the project.

That conversation eventually led to further opportunities, including content work for EA Sports across NFL, college football and football, in both English and German.

It's a good reminder that careers in freelance sports media don't always follow a straight line.

Sometimes it's timing. Sometimes coincidence. Sometimes a recommendation.

And, quite frankly, sometimes a LARGE dollop of luck.

So how popular is Alexander Zverev in Germany?

A friend who works in top-level sport asked me that question recently, wanting to know: Do Germans actually like Zverev? Is he popular?

It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

The short version?

Yes. But it's complicated.

I live in Germany, play tennis here and have followed German sport and tennis for many years, so my perspective is probably slightly different from someone looking at Zverev from the outside.

Among hardcore tennis fans, I'd say he is certainly popular. And after winning the French Open and US Open within 98 days, he has undoubtedly earned enormous respect as a player. His French Open victory alone attracted more than two million viewers on Eurosport in Germany.

I play tennis myself, and the people I play with generally like Zverev. I think there's a simple reason for that: they like winners.

After years of asking whether he could actually get over the line in a Grand Slam, he finally has, twice.

There is also a sense that a younger generation sees him differently. They haven't grown up with the Zverev who lost the 2020 US Open final from two sets up to Dominic Thiem, or the player who repeatedly fell short in Grand Slam finals.

They are seeing a two-time Grand Slam champion.

And there is another genuinely positive and inspiring side to the story: his openness about living with type 1 diabetes and competing at the highest level despite the condition.

But this is where I think the comparison with Boris Becker and Steffi Graf becomes important.

I don't think Zverev will ever become “our Sascha” in quite the same way Becker became “our Boris” and Graf “our Steffi” during Germany's great tennis boom.

And that's not necessarily Zverev's fault.

Becker and Graf were winning on free-to-air television, with millions of Germans gripped by their matches and their success becoming a genuine national sporting event.

Today's tennis landscape is completely different. Following Zverev across the tennis calendar can mean several different subscriptions, while football dominates the German sporting conversation.

So you can have a hugely successful German tennis player without necessarily creating the same mass phenomenon.

That's probably the distinction I'd make:

Zverev is respected. He's supported. But I don't think he's universally loved.

And then there is the more complicated side of his image: the domestic-abuse allegations involving two former partners, which remain part of the conversation around him despite the legal proceedings involving Brenda Patea ending in a settlement without a finding of guilt. Zverev has always maintained his innocence.

That doesn't mean German tennis fans have simply turned against him. There is clearly still plenty of support for him.

But it does mean his public image is more complicated than his results alone.

There is also another interesting element to his story. Zverev was born and raised in Hamburg, represents Germany and is very much a German sporting figure. At the same time, his parents are Russian-born former Soviet tennis players and he has made Monaco his primary residence. On court, you will even hear him muttering away in Russian.

So when my friend asked me whether Zverev is popular in Germany, my answer was essentially this:

Yes. But perhaps more respected than loved.

And that may be changing.

For a younger generation, Zverev isn't the guy who lost the US Open final from two sets up.

He's the guy who won the French Open and then the US Open while successfully managing type 1 diabetes at the highest level.

That matters.

But “our Sascha”?

I'm not sure Germany will ever get quite that far.