Alexander Zverev sr. not only known for his grim poker face in the heat of battle. Whenever the coach's father witnesses an award ceremony for his son Alexander, the 61-year-old former top player's feelings are hard to overcome, the patriarch of the family business is very much built on the water in these moments. Even on Sunday afternoon, dad couldn't hold back tears of joy when his youngest child's next coup was perfect - the first Masters title in Cincinnati after a sovereign 6: 2, 6: 3 final march against the Muscovite Andrey Rublev, the fifth Masters Victory at all, the next big exclamation mark after winning the Olympic gold medal that spectacular summer. "Please stop crying," shouted Alexander Jr. finally Alexander sr. during the ceremonies with a subtle smile, "Jesus Christ."

A week before the US Open, traditionally the last Grand Slam tournament in professional tennis, Zverev has soared into the position of the second big winner - alongside leader Novak Djokovic, who is chasing the dream of a real Grand Slam in the Big Apple, the Triumph in all four majors in one calendar year. When Zverev started his opening game at the Masters spectacle in Cincinnati last Wednesday, he had dragged a strange statistic onto the pitch. He was eliminated in the opening round seven times in recent years, in 2020 he lost in the starting match to the Scottish convalescent Andy Murray, who was ranked 134th at the time. Now he not only overcame the curse of early failure and emerged from the qualifying games as a smiling, self-confident champion. In the final, it took him 59 powerful minutes to secure the trophy. "It is an unbelievable feeling to go to the US Open like this," said Zverev, who with five Masters titles was already on par with Boris Becker at the age of 24.

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Zverev's victory run showed an amazing, almost paradoxical similarity to the gold medal history of Tokyo. At the Olympic Games, the native of Hamburg turned a game that was believed to be lost in the semifinals against Djokovic and then easily won the final against Russian Karen Khachanov. In Cincinnati, Zverev turned the dramatic semi-final match against rival Stefanos Tsitsipas after a 1: 4 deficit in the third set and a serious stomach upset like an escapist before he easily dominated the final against his childhood friend Rublev. With the small series of eleven games won, Zverev now traveled to New York - to a location where he had lost his first Grand Slam title last year in an almost traumatic way. After a 2-0 set lead and also a 5-3 lead in the fifth act, Zverev lost the cup duel against Austria's ace Dominic Thiem.

A lot of celebrities will be missing from the Open American Championships in 2021, the injured defending champion Thiem is one of them. Two of the defining tennis figures of the last two decades are also not at the start. Maestro Roger Federer and Matador Rafael Nadal - the Swiss injured his knee, the Spaniard's foot. Zverev, the most formidable player in recent weeks, is now Djokovic's natural and weightiest challenger, the man who needs to be beaten next to number one. As the new number four in the world rankings, Zverev could meet Djokovic in the semifinals at the earliest, but possibly also in the final. "Looking so far ahead, it's not worth it at all," said Zverev after his victory in Cincinnati, where the German was able to perform in front of a large number of spectators for the first time since Wimbledon. And where he didn’t forget his brother and manager Mischa in the celebrations after the victory: “Happy birthday”, he called out to the brother who was in Germany on TV, “we don’t want to forget that”.