Opening victory at the ATP Finals
Zverev shocks world No. 2 after shocking moment
November 13, 2023, 6:48 p.m
In Madrid and New York, Alexander Zverev has no chance against Carlos Alcaraz. At the ATP Finals, however, the Spaniard, number 2 in the world rankings, lost out. The top German player is heading for the semi-finals at the end of the tennis season.
Alexander Zverev spread his arms laughing and waved freely to the Turin audience: The Olympic champion caused a big surprise at the start of the ATP Finals and disenchanted Carlos Alcaraz. The 26-year-old from Hamburg defeated the second-seeded Wimbledon winner from Spain 6:7 (3:7), 6:3, 6:4 and decisively opened the door to the semi-finals. Even a fall in the third set didn’t throw Zverev out of his rhythm.
“I’m happy to be here again. I missed it a lot last year,” said Zverev after his surprising success. Zverev had to sit out injured in 2022. “I knew that I had to serve well today. I managed to do that. I’m happy that I have my first win under my belt,” said Zverev, who hit 16 aces.
Zverev, who caused the shocking moment in the third set and briefly evoked memories of his horror injury in Paris in the audience, started the prestigious end of the year as a clear outsider. Participation in itself can be seen as a success in the comeback year after the serious foot injury. The tournament winner from 2018 and 2021, who beat Alcaraz with his service and better balance of risk and safety, will face the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrej Rublew in the group phase. The top two make it to the semi-finals.
Four breakballs missed
“I simply enjoy being among the eight best players in the world and being able to compete with them,” he said before the start at the Pala Alpitour, knowing that the tournament suits him: hard court, indoors without external wind influences, two sentences. He also proved this against Alcaraz, who had clearly shown the German top player’s limits twice this season. The current world number seven from Germany did not win a set in both the round of 16 of the Masters in Madrid and the quarter-finals of the US Open.
In Turin, however, Zverev created his chances right from the start with a strong serve and an initially lower error rate than Alcaraz – but then missed four break points when the score was 3:3. Then the Spaniard, who had been a bit weak in recent months, was suddenly there and showed his class. At the beginning of the second round, Alcaraz lost his sovereignty again, made simple mistakes and Zverev quickly moved ahead to 3-0. With three aces in one game he finally sealed the set win. After a break to make it 3-2 in the decisive section, Zverev fell and briefly grimaced. But he fought through and celebrated his success.
Zverev now has a day off on Tuesday before things get serious again on Wednesday. Instead, the parallel group with Novak Djokovic is now called upon again; the Serb will meet the South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner on Tuesday evening (9 p.m./Sky), and in the afternoon (2:30 p.m.) Stefanos Tsitsipas and Boris Becker’s protégé Holger Rune will compete.