US Open: Alexander Zverev - entry into the final as victory over the old self
Alexander Zverev is in the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. On his way to the final of the US Open, where he will meet Dominic Thiem on Sunday (10 p.m. CEST, live on Eurosport and in our live ticker), the German has shown new qualities.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Sep 12, 2020, 12:37 pm
It wasn't just a backlog. It was a humiliation, a disaster, a sporting declaration of bankruptcy. Alexander Zverev was 3: 6 and 0: 5 behind in the US Open semifinals against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, he was just a shadow of himself, and that was also an understatement. A little later, Zverev also lost the second sentence, Boris Becker, the old master, spoke from a distance of a “very questionable appearance” by the young German. And on the Internet, malice and ridicule were already pouring over the stumbling giant.
Those who gave themselves the night shift of Zverev after the opening fiasco were allowed to rub their eyes even more on Saturday than those who followed the match up to the last, very last rally. Because the last, decisive point was set by the scorned, ridiculed, written off Zverev: After three hours and 21 minutes, it was 1:40 a.m. at home in Germany, the 23-year-old made the seemingly impossible perfectly and won the 3rd place : 6, 2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 3 success, the first Grand Slam final of his eventful career.
Zverev's showdown with Thiem
The dead live longer: On Sunday evening (10 p.m., Eurosport), Zverev will now meet his old friend and companion Dominic Thiem (27) in the ultimate showdown, who beat Russian Daniil Medvedev 6: 2, 7: 6 and 7 by all means : Had dispatched 6. "I can hardly wait for it to start," said Zverev after his miraculous resurrection in the Big Apple. After a Houdini unleashing act without shine, but which was morally all the more valuable. The supervisor of German tennis, Chancellor Becker, later called him “mentality monster” with a hint of a bow.
One thing is certain: With his Grand Slam appearance, with the final advance as the first German since Michael Stich in 1994 (defeat against Andre Agassi), Zverev has earned more respect than ever from his dear colleagues and their coaching staff. As a man who suddenly recovered time and time again from deep red numbers, who put away doubts, frustrations and rumbling - and yet still crossed the finish line first. Zverev has always had the talent and potential to play mind-blowing tennis. He's a huge talent, but part of his career record was also missing big opportunities. Losing games he should or had to win.
Zverev turns another game
The game against Carreno Busta, the Spanish underdog, could have been included in this rating as Zverev's failure at the decisive moment. But just like before against the Frenchman Mannarino and the Croatian Coric, the world number seven turned the game around, with a historically particularly valuable star rating: For the first time, the two-meter slap was even catching up after 0: 2 set deficit successfully. "I just said to myself: You can't end a semi-finals here like this," said Zverev. Then at the beginning of the third act, after a brief pause for reflection while going to the toilet, he did something that sounds simple, but is not easy. He always focused only on the next point, the next game - and not on the big, dark picture. At some point, with this strategy of small steps, he also arrived in the fifth set, according to Zverev, "and then it went relatively well for me."
Grand Slam tennis is, at best, a stage for the aesthetes. But as contemporary witness Roger Federer once remarked: “You don't go out to win nicely. But to win. No matter how. ”Zverev even had to do more during this US Open, he didn't just have to win, he had to get up again and again in critical life situations, find himself in the eerie atmosphere of this tournament of silence. He could have given in to the temptation often enough to let a game go after all, after all against Coric he was 1: 6 and 2: 4 behind.
The overall balance speaks for Thiem
But Zverev always remained calm, perhaps also in the certainty that as a now more mature and adult player, he could still find a solution to the misery. His victories in New York were, in a certain way, victories over his old self, over the sloppiness of the huge talent, over the carelessness of the gifted. Zverev didn't lose his nerve either, as he used to regularly when it got heated against Carreno Busta: The Spaniard shot him very ugly and unnecessarily on the body twice, but the hamburger took it cool in the end. “Sascha gave him the answer on the pitch,” said Becker.
After Corona, New York is now also before Corona. Because in the final, Zverev meets a familiar figure in the first ever German-Austrian final rendezvous, namely Spezi Thiem. He had blocked him in the title match in Australia in January, for Zverev it was the fourth loss at Grand Slam level against the massive fighter. Zverev would have liked to avoid the duel, no wonder given the 2: 7 overall balance in the encounters with Thiem. But nothing about this US Open has been a request for Zverev so far. All the better for him that he is still there after all the sporty turbulence, as an unpredictable stand-up man. Everything just starts all over again on Sunday. What was before is unimportant. Thiem also knows that, for the earlier victories against Zverev he “couldn't buy anything,” he says, “it will be super difficult against Sascha.”