ATP finals. Alexander Zverev - A year with everything thinkable and unthinkable
Victory or elimination in the group stage? If you go to Alexander Zverev's crazy year 2020, everything seems possible at the ATP Finals in London.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Nov 13, 2020, 11:08 pm
Alexander Zverev could not have foreseen the global and personal turbulence of 2020 when he stood on Center Court in Australia for the first time this season. Even then he had enough to do with himself, with his game, with his moods, with the irritating fluctuations. Zverev was busy at the ATP Cup, a competition that followed in the footsteps of the Düsseldorf World Team Cup. And what you saw under the German flag of Zverev was, to say the least, shocking. Zverev lay down with his father Alexander sr. on, he kept chopping up his rackets in frustration, and incidentally he lost all of his individual matches without a sound. Boris Becker, appointed captain of the team by Zverev, looked perplexed at the events. Zverev was trapped in a "dark room," said the German tennis chancellor, he now urgently needs help to "be able to turn the light on again."
But then something happened at the Australian Open that ran like a continuation series through this entire extraordinary season: The 23-year-old shook the crisis and the legacy just nothing from you, even before full spectators. He won and won, right through to the semi-finals. And only there the German had to give in to his Austrian friend and rival Dominic Thiem . Up and down, again and again - it was the motto and motif that Zverev 2020 accompanied before and during the corona pandemic. And what has remained is this split image, the split perception now also into the here and now of the preparation for the ATP finals in the London O2 Arena (there Zverev meets front man Novak Djokovic , the Russian Daniil Medvedev and the Argentinian Diego in his group Schwartzman ).
Zverev wins both Cologne tournaments
Two tournament victories recently in a row at the improvised tournament breakpoint in Cologne, then headlines again about the paternity of a child together with a former girlfriend. And headlines about allegations of another former girlfriend who accused the tennis star of domestic violence. Allegations that Zverev vehemently denies. Allegations, of which it is also clear that they will somehow get stuck on him for the time being. Recently in Paris, on the fringes of the Masters tournament, he said, not exactly very discreet or very clever, there were people who wanted to keep him from laughing, “but under this mask I laugh very broadly:“ I feel unbelievable on that Space. It's all great in my life. "
Zverev packed almost everything thinkable and unthinkable into this already strange year. His first difficult time in public focus came in the spring, when the public basically didn't have to pay attention to tennis again. Novak Djokovic, the controversial leader of the scene, had ultimately dragged Zverev into the mess - with the irresponsible Adria Tour, an inconsequential exhibition series that gave the impression that the pandemic was suddenly defeated. In any case, Zverev also got involved in the wild party troupe, which celebrated and provoked decadently at night in clubs. Zverev then seemed remorseful and promised to go into a self-imposed quarantine period. Only to be immediately filmed again at a pandemic non-compliant party on the Mediterranean and presented as an unfair person.
Becker had to bow to Zverev
One would have thought that the season would have been over for Zverev back then. Becker, the technical observer, also had rather gloomy premonitions for the restart of the real tour - with the German top ten man, to whom he shouted that he now had to “get his shop in order” and see “that a few positive headlines from Tennis come here. ”Did Becker believe it? In any case, a few weeks later he almost got a crooked back, as often as he had to or was allowed to bow to Zverev. Because he had already made a breathtaking turnaround and turned it up tremendously at the US Open. In the final, he already had his hands on the winner's cup before he lost the final against Thiem after a 2-0 set lead and clear dominance. Zverev very, very close to winning the first major trophy of his career - and that after all the trials and tribulations before. As Becker noted, it was just as “deserved” as it was “crazy” and “unreal”. In any case, he wouldn't have “bet on this whole story” before that tournament. ”He's just good at shaking off“ negatives ”and“ sorting things out again, ”says Zverev:“ It's like this: With me you always have to go for a lot be composed. "
In London, where the season finale of the eight best will take place for the last time after an inspiring decade, everything is in again for Zverev, the enigmatic. The outcome of the last tournament will also determine whether Zverev rates the entire season in a more conciliatory manner. Or whether he has to grieve about too many missed opportunities in retrospect. Unlike in previous years, everyone comes from the usual season marathon to the huge, unfortunately deserted amusement arcade - that makes a prediction even more difficult for the winner of the championship. Zverev always liked the rousing atmosphere in the O2 arena, as well as the flair of the exclusivity of this competition. One last hurray at the end of 2020? Or is it a weak finish? Who knows at Zverev.