Australian Open: From Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll - Suddenly Zverev is taken seriously
Alexander Zverev still needs two wins to be the third German to win a Grand Slam. But his semi-final opponent Dominic Thiem is in dazzling shape himself.
by SID
last edit: Jan 30, 2020, 11:47 am
No one took him seriously last week. When Alexander Zverev made an astonishing promise after his opening match at the Australian Open that if he won the tournament in Melbourne, he would donate all his prize money to the victims of the bushfire, the Australian newspapers were not worth a word. Zverev? Who just offered a little horror show at the ATP Cup? Pfff.
Yes, "it's easy to say after the first round, right?" Even Zverev admitted with a smile after moving into the semi-finals on Friday (9.30 a.m.CET) against his friend Dominic Thiem (26) from Austria. He didn't expect his promise to catch up with him again, but now: take him seriously. And he's serious. The "German Gun" (The Age) is suddenly on everyone's lips.
Zverev deserves attention. 4.12 million Australian dollars (approx. 2.55 million euros) are a huge sum - "also for me", he had to explain again, and then why he would give the money on Sunday anyway: his parents would have brought him up like this, he learned that "money can change the world" and there are many people here in Australia who really need it more than he does.
Zverev got the serve under control
The fact that he has to talk more about it may come as a surprise to Zverev after the disaster at the ATP Cup, with three losses in three matches and 31 double errors in 31 service games. "But I didn't just have problems with my serve there. I had problems with everything: my forehand, my backhand, my stop, my slice, my return and getting up in the morning." And now? Mr. Hyde is gone, Dr. Jekyll there.
"This is a grand slam. You should play your best tennis here, and I'm doing it right now," emphasizes the 22-year-old from Hamburg. And yet he will have to improve again now: Zverev may also have expected to play against Rafael Nadal , but Thiem is not the easier task. Anyone who takes down the world rankings in an epic match lasting more than four hours should be taken seriously.
Until the grand victory against Nadal, Thiem also flew under the radar, not even the hasty separation from co-coach Thomas Muster after only two weeks of cooperation made a big round in Australia. The 26-year-old fifth in the world rankings finds it funny that he will meet Zverev in the semifinals: It is, he said, slightly amused, "the first time that I have to play against a younger one in a Grand Slam semifinals."
Thiem for the third major final
Thiem has already made four semifinals - since 2016 at the French Open in Paris. In the first two years he lost to Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Nadal, in the past two years he was in the final and lost to Nadal. He is looking forward to Zverev: "We have no secrets from each other. We have a nice rivalry." It's easy to say when you've won six out of eight duels.
Thiem says he is pleased for Zverev that he is in the semi-finals, "he made his breakthrough in a Grand Slam." In Australia they now know at least 4.12 million reasons why they should finally take the Germans seriously.
Here is the single tableau in Melbourne
laverarena