First the anger, then the tears: Zverev tops and refutes Boris Becker


First the anger, then the tears
Zverev tops and refutes Boris Becker

By Tobias Nordmann

It is no surprise that Alexander Zverev will make it into the Olympic semifinals in Tokyo. But in the final of the tennis tournament? The Serbian top favorite Novak Djokovic is actually in the way. Zverev grabs it after a disastrous start. Now he is on the verge of overcoming his trauma.

Alexander Zverev does not like the role of the crying Olympic hero. Not at all. Hopefully nobody saw the tears that he had shed after the phenomenal 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1 semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic, he said. Well, not everything can work out for the German tennis star on this historic Friday. His moist eyes were captured splendidly by the technically high-quality cameras. Of course, it could have been much worse for the 23-year-old. For example, if the second set had gone the same as the first. That was pretty crap.

Zverev was not as hopelessly overwhelmed as the result suggests. He didn’t have a chance against the almost unbeatable Serbian either. The semi-final threatens to become a typical Zverev game. Always somehow close to triumph, but then suddenly quite far away again. Sentence one provided new evidence for the eternal indictment of tennis legend Boris Becker. He is already chronically critical of his successor. Just a few weeks ago, Becker had complained that Zverev kept failing on himself. That annoys Becker. Zverev is too passive in the crucial moments, he is just waiting for mistakes, were the two main charges.

Becker annoys that Zverev is still denied the big title. In fact, he has not yet won a Grand Slam, only once in the final. And no Olympic gold either. That, however, cannot be blamed on the native of Hamburg. After all, this is his first time at the Games. And has now earned the gold chance. In the final against the Russian surprise man Karen Chatschanow, Zverev is the favorite. In Tokyo he is now following the path that other German tennis greats had taken before him. Steffi Graf won gold in 1988 and silver four years later. Angelique Kerber also celebrated a silver triumph five years ago. As the last German in the men’s singles so far, Tommy Haas had reached the final in Sydney in 2000, but lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikow.

Quality and mentality

Whereby the word “earn” does not do justice to the performance of the fifth in the world rankings. Because what Zverev suddenly offered after the result debacle in round one was an achievement full of quality and mentality. Bending the game against the over-player of the past few years actually seemed impossible. And Zverev in between desperate.

But in the second round he was there immediately. His game was more sovereign, more confident. But he didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. Djokovic, this monster of conviction, fended off his opponent’s attacks. With effort, but successfully. The 24-year-old, who does not always have his anger under control on the court, hammered his racket on the court and when Djokovic managed the break to 3-2, a ball left the court towards the top grandstand seats. The dream of gold seemed to have burst by now at the latest. The duels in Tokyo were supposed to be the healing ointment for the wounds of the past few months. At the French Open, Zverev failed in the semifinals in mid-June after a tough fight against the Greek top player Stefanos Tsitsipas. A disappointment, but far from a drama or a debacle.

Zverev experienced that at Wimbledon earlier this month. Already in the round of 16 it was over against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. Again it was an uphill battle. Another lost one, one who had left Zverev at a loss. But it was also a defeat that hurt him less than many others recently. Because the thing was clear. “I didn’t play anywhere near the level I would have to do in a Grand Slam.” Germany’s best tennis player felt that his body needed a break. He took it. To finally achieve the big goals. Zverev hung his batteries on the quick charger. Because there wasn’t much time.

Highly successful lightning therapy

It was a physical and psychological lightning therapy that worked amazingly well. Although he had only really been challenged once in the tournament, in the round of 16 against the strong Georgian Nikolos Bassilashvili, when it came to the decisive stress test, Zverev revealed a power like the legendary Duracell rabbit once did. Triggered by his little tantrum, including a bat throw. Suddenly, the 24-year-old was playing with maximum conviction, knowing that he could no longer lose anything, only win. In the meantime he managed an insane series of 8: 0 won service games. This resulted not only in winning the second set, but also in a 4-0 lead in set three. Zverev’s serve came, he won the long rallies. He didn’t give Djokovic a chance. The Serb, who can rise from any weakness, looked completely helpless.

With a placed backhand against the serve of the “Djoker”, Zverev ended the game. As a side effect, it spoiled the Serbian world number one the chance of a historic triumph. Djokovic wanted to seize the rare chance of the Golden Slam this year, he was still missing Olympic gold and the US Open title. The chance has now slipped away.

“Certainly one of the most emotional moments” of his career, said the proud, but also completely exhausted Zverev after his phenomenal victory, certainly one of the biggest and most important so far. His older brother Mischa was also emotionally exhausted: “I can’t say anything. I cried a thousand times, then I laughed, then I was angry. So emotional, it was exhausting,” he said at Eurosport. “Stop crying. One in the family is enough,” Alexander sent back a beautiful greeting. With tears he strangers. But possibly soon no longer with a great triumph.

By the way: No matter how his game ends on Sunday, Zverev has already set an important example and Boris Becker is a bit ahead. The legend won double gold in Barcelona, ​​but was unsuccessful as a soloist.

.