ATP Finals: Alexander Zverev - “On Friday I’m the biggest Medvedev fan”
Alexander Zverev had plenty of chances against Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday evening in Turin. At the crucial moment he couldn't take action.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Nov 16, 2023, 09:38 am
By Jens Huiber from Turin
The Stadio Olimpico, where AC Turin plays its matches, is directly adjacent to the Pala Alpitour. And one of the great footballing wisdoms wafted over to the ATP Finals yesterday, Wednesday evening: If you don't take advantage of your chances, you will be punished." That's what happened to Alexander Zverev against Daniil Medvedev.
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There were opportunities, some of them huge. Like the sly backhand volley when the score was 4:1 in the tiebreak. Or a few moments later, when Zverev tried to lob Medvedev - but he could have shot it down in good old Ivan Lendl style. In retrospect: should have shot it down. The second set showed again how quickly things can happen: Zverev misses his break chance at 4:4, Medvedev uses his very first to win the match.
Zverev only played against Rublev in the evening
Now we have to win against Andrey Rublev on Friday. The good news: Rublev hasn't made a good impression in Turin so far, losing his games against Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz in two sets. The not so good thing: Alexander Zverev lost the last three games against Rublev. However, the Russian could be missing the last bit of excitement - after all, Rublev was the first player to retire purely for sport (Stefanos Tsitsipas had to pack up due to injury).
Now, however, the game between Zverev and Rublev will be played on Friday evening. So after the meeting between Alcaraz and Medvedev. The Spaniard cannot win this, otherwise Zverev has no chance of reaching the semi-finals. What the Hamburg native made the understandable statement in the press conference late on Wednesday evening: “On Friday I am the biggest Medvedev fan.”
Medvedev is reminiscent of Djokovic
The person addressed was right behind Zverev with the group of reporters. And expressed understanding for Zverev's concerns. And he himself saw from Novak Djokovic last year that it is good for the rhythm of the game if you don't give up a game (Djokovic won in the last group game, which was actually meaningless for him).
However, Medvedev also explained: A three-hour match with a tiebreak in the third set is not good preparation for a semi-final the next day. We will see.
Here is the individual tableau in Turin
turinmap