Sunday 31 October 2021
18th tournament victory as a milestone
Zverev catches up with a big one
Alexander Zverev is the best German tennis player since the era of Boris Becker and Michael Stich. With the tournament victory in Munich, the man from Hamburg achieved a mark that made him catch up with the great heroes of sport in Germany. And Zverev is still so young.
Strengthened by Wiener Schnitzel and spurred on by friend Sophia Thomalla, Alexander Zverev celebrated his fifth tournament victory this year. The Olympic tennis champion decided the final in the Wiener Stadthalle against the American Frances Tiafoe 7: 5, 6: 4 for himself. “That’s great, especially since I didn’t start the week so well,” said Zverev. The 24-year-old from Hamburg needed 95 minutes for his 18th final triumph on the ATP tour. With that, Zverev drew level with the former Wimbledon winner Michael Stich.
Only Boris Becker has won more tournaments in the history of German men’s tennis. However, both have Zverev a bit ahead: While the best German tennis player of the last ten years is still chasing his first Grand Slam title, Stich and Becker each won one of the four largest tournaments in the world: Stich won Wimbledon in 1991, Becker even won six Grand Slam titles.
The unusual schnitzel diet the evening before, which Zverev had humorously announced after his smooth semi-final success against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, seemed to be working. “Sophia tells me all the time, how can you eat so much scrap all the time and still be so thin? Yes, I just move around the field for 18 hours a day,” Zverev reported about teasing his new partner. Actress Sophia Thomalla cheered on her Sascha loudly from the player’s box on Sunday and applauded standing after the victory.
Emotional, spectacular opponent
Zverev got off to a good start, put Tiafoe under pressure and got the early break to 3-1. But the 23-year-old outsider countered courageously, taking the serve from the German. Tiafoe delighted the audience with his emotional and sometimes spectacular game. At Zverev, on the other hand, looseness and dominance were initially gone. But the fourth in the world rankings kept his nerve. Above all, he could rely on his serve strength. Zverev could not yet use a first set ball, then he benefited from a mistake made by number 49 in the world rankings.
In the second round, Tiafoe’s strength slackened a little. The American had worked his way into the main field through qualification. In the semifinals he had turned an almost lost game against South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner. In the final, too, Tiafoe toiled to the delight of the more than 8,000 spectators, both players offered a sometimes top-class show.
“Something I missed a lot”
“After the Corona period, I just enjoy playing in the full stadium again, something that I missed a lot. I need the energy and am also impulsive on the pitch,” said Zverev about the atmosphere in the town hall. In the end, the man from Hamburg resolutely used his advantage in strength and class for his sixth success in the seventh comparison with Tiafoe.
It was the sixth German tournament victory in Vienna. Before that, Stich, Becker, Philipp Petzschner and twice Tommy Haas had won the event. Zverev collected a check for 275,000 euros. He has already equalized his best record of five tournament victories from 2017. In this form he will be one of the favorites again in Paris for the next few days. “There are now two more tournaments, I want to do well,” said Zverev.