Australian Open: The evening of bitter gifts - Alexander Zverev is eliminated
The quarter-final duel at the Australian Open with Novak Djokovic turned out to be a match of missed opportunities for Alexander Zverev . Accordingly, this defeat is also painful for Germany's number one.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Feb 16, 2021, 05:14 pm
In the deserted haunted house of the Rod Laver Arena, Novak Djokovic carried out his familiar winning ritual, bowing in all four directions of the stadium, when Alexander Zverev had already marched off the Center Court in a hurry. It was an angry, bitter farewell moment for the 23-year-old from Hamburg, who had long dreamed of beating a top ten player at Grand Slam level for the first time in his career, as well as eight-time Melbourne champion Novak Djokovic. But in the end the roller coaster ride of this quarter-final in front of empty ranks was just the story of the next Zverev failure against one of the big players in the industry - 7: 6 (8: 6), 2: 6, 4: 6, 6: 7 (6: 6: 8) was the painful final balance for the German front man, who squandered a row of comfortable tours and gave too many gifts to the by no means unbeatable Djokovic. “With a little more consistency and determination,” judged TV expert Boris Becker from a distance, “Sascha could have won that.” Djokovic admitted that he himself trembled and worried until the last second, “it was completely open real thriller. "
#VIDEO#
But Djokovic is Djokovic in matches with this acute drama, with high stress pressure, with an ongoing fight against the opponent and himself. Since 2014, the Belgrade player has not lost a single match against top ten competitors at the Australian Open, again and again he defeated and wrestled the best of the best - and even with the handicap of an abdominal muscle injury he staged an amazing act of unleashing against Zverev over three hours and 34 minutes on this February 16, 2021 over and over again. “He just never, never, never gives up. You can't be sure about him. In no second, "said Zverev later, visibly dejected after the end," we both played well, the result is tough for me now. "He had led 4-1 in the third set, Djokovic actually seemed on the ground, even dismembered in a rage a racket on the orphaned Center Court. But in the next quarter of an hour the long-time Capitano turned the script with a sudden force, grabbed the direction and took Zverev's serve twice. And went 6: 4 and a 2: 1 lead through the goal.
djokerur scream
Zverev misses huge opportunities
When Zverev later shuffled in the catacombs with his brother to the press conference, he was seen shaking his head in exasperation. You saw how the world number seventh lamented repeatedly about the missed opportunities, how he relived and suffered in his mind the nightmare of the missed opportunities. And the fourth round was also a nightmare for Zverev, in which he initially seemed to have recovered from the shock of the completely unnecessary 1: 2 set deficit and quickly took a 3: 0 lead. But again the 23-year-old did not follow up consistently enough, a renewed black-out led to a 3: 3 tie for Djokovic. The defending champion was back, Zverev found stability in his game again, with a 6: 5 lead he even had a set ball. But ultimately it was the lottery of the tiebreak that had to decide - and Djokovic marked the perfect final point with his no less than 23rd ace. "An ending, typical for number one," said Sweden's ex-star Mats Wilander on record at Eurosport.
Zverev: "Was more in it"
The Grand Slam curse against colleagues from the House of Lords continued for Zvererv. And probably the annoyance about being out of a major tournament was seldom greater than on this tennis night, which only ended half an hour after midnight with the unnecessary farewell in the round of eight. Djokovic was “definitely beatable”, even if he “deserved all in all”, commented Becker, himself coach of the Serbian world number one for three years: “Sascha always knocks on the front door. But he hasn't opened it yet. ”Which was all the more painful in Melbourne, because in the next round there would have been no other top crack on the other side of the net, but the Russian qualifier Aslan Karazew. The surprise man of the tournament who made it into the semi-finals as the first ever Grand Slam debutant. No sporting license for Zverev, this potential game of the semifinals, but a huge chance for the first Melbourne final. “It was certainly more possible,” said Zverev's brother and manager Mischa later, “but it's just incredibly difficult to get these last points against Novak. To play that through to the end. "
When Zverev stormed away from Center Court, it was already twenty minutes to one in the night, when the winners' cup of the Australian Open caught his eye again. The trophy is well positioned in the permanent field of vision of the tennis gladiators. Zverev was only allowed to look at them, but not to touch them. Somebody else from the tennis caravan will do that on Sunday evening. Maybe even for the ninth time the eternal Djokovic. The non-stop spoiler Djokovic.