Australian Open: Confident, confident, solid - Alexander Zverev's turn
Alexander Zverev will play Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open on Friday for the first time in a Grand Slam final. The improvements to the appearances at the ATP Cup in Brisbane are remarkable.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jan 29, 2020, 02:38 pm
There has hardly been a major tournament in the past two years where Alexander Zverev has not been considered a co-favorite. Or at least as a candidate for the title in the extended circle. But when Zverev arrived in Melbourne two weeks ago, he was suddenly a nobody in the speculative world of Grand Slam tennis. Zverev had a hard time at the ATP Cup, a newly created national competition, he had lost all his games, he had had a fight with his father and head coach Alexander sen. Zofft, he had let the German team down with his horror appearances, and he himself had left his mentor Boris Becker at a loss. What was wrong with Zverev, Becker said, should be seen as a serious crisis. The boy was "completely unsettled."
But that's how it is sometimes in sport, especially in tennis, the sport in which an individual can move wildly through all the wave valleys, through striking ups and downs outstanding grand slam tournaments, can fall deep. And who can no longer be trusted, who can hardly count on himself, suddenly plays in a state of strange serenity and pleasant indifference. Motto: What could be worse? Zverev, the blatant outsider, the ailing star, is now the last one to set out from such a state without any load and without any pressure to go higher. He had "zero expectations" for this tournament, "decent" he wanted to present himself until he left, sooner or later - that was his state of mind.
Awesome feeling for Zverev
But first, Zverev has not left at all. And secondly, from his status as a marginal figure of the very first Grand Slam days, he is now right in the spotlight, as a semi-final debutant in one of the four major tournaments - what a spin-off for the 22-year-old from Hamburg, who has so far made the biggest comeback of his career the courts of the National Tennis Center in Melbourne. He also conjured up a comeback on Wednesday in miniature, in his 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2 victory against the Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka. For 24 minutes, Zverev experienced a bitter dissipation in the first sentence, he did not know what was happening to him in the unusual daytime session. And yet, as in four previous games, he retained his new solidity, sovereignty and self-confidence, turning the match around concentrated and calm, downright easy. And could then announce: "You don't even know what that means to me. It's a great feeling, an outstanding one. ”
In the semi-finals, Zverev meets a good friend on Friday night's show, his Austrian buddy Dominic Thiem. The fifth in the world rankings was the deserved 7: 6 (7: 3), 7: 6 (7: 4), 4: 6, 7: 6 (8: 6) winner against Matador Rafael Nadal at the end of a four-hour, highly dramatic struggle for wear and tear , The 26-year-old Thiem has won six of the eight duels to date, including two quarter-final matches at the French Open.
Thiem will also have a hard time
Zverev has never gone as far as in Melbourne in one of the competitions that define the status and market value of a professional player. And what always prevented him from advancing on a very big stage - unnecessary waste of resources in the early tournament phase, too long matches against opponents from the back rows - now benefits him in reverse. Until the quarter-finals, Zverev, always very alert, attentive and determined, did not deliver a sentence. Elsewhere the eternal marathon man, who ran out of steam, was and is the German at the Australian Open 2020 the absolute energy saver - 143 minutes, 139 minutes, 116 minutes, 97 minutes and again 139 minutes against Wawrinka were his previous working hours. "I am sure that I can still make good progress," said Zverev on Wednesday, when he ultimately only had to do a short shift against the increasingly matt Wawrinka.
The second big plus: the service. The blow that no opponent can influence, it is Zverev's prime blow. At least on good days. There were only a few of them up to the Australian Open. At the ATP Cup in Brisbane, 31 double mistakes by the Hamburg player were noted, his service was also his weak point, the source of his frustration. In Melbourne now - a miraculous transformation: Zverev not only beat 56 aces, but also took the lead in the first serves, 79 percent black and white. "With such a quota, everyone, absolutely everyone, has a hard time against Sascha," US veteran John McEnroe noted. Also Thiem, Zverev's next opponent.
Here is the single tableau in Melbourne
laverarena