Zverev dethrones Medvedev to win his second title

In another final without Djokovic, Nadal or Federer, the third in a row in the ATP Finals, but with the best of the year, at least in terms of victories, Alexander Zverev was proclaimed champion by winning the Pala Alpitour in Turin by a double 6-4 in 75 minutes to the defending champion, Daniil Medvedev. The German, winner in 2018, dethroned the Russian and is the tenth player to lift two or more trophies in the history of the tournament, which celebrated its 52nd edition. He also does it with victories against number one (Djokovic) and number two (Medvedev) in the cross-overs after the group stage, something that only Lendl (1982), Edberg (1989) and Agassi (1990) had achieved before.

The 2021 final faced two tennis players aged 25 or younger, an event that had not occurred since 2005, when Naldandian (23) and Federer (24) met in the fight for the Masters. The two had already triumphed in this event and shared the course leadership in ATP wins with 58, an equality that broke Zverev (59-15) thanks to a victory with which he equals the head to head with the Muscovite (6-6), who had beaten him five days before in the longest match (2h36) of the Red Group and against which it had suffered five consecutive defeats. He did it thanks to his magnificent performance, above all, service. The Hamburger proved 74% effective with firsts and only lost seven points with them and six with seconds. In this way he did not grant even a break option to his rival, saddened by the impossibility of finding cracks through which the rest could sneak.

The other key to his success was the reliability of the game from the back of the court, with few errors (13) and a solidity worthy of the best David Ferrerwho coached him for a few weeks, after the 2020 confinement. “I had to play one of my best matches against someone I had lost against five times in a row, and I am very happy to go on vacation with this victory,” said Zverev, who closes the year with six titles, more than anyone else, including Olympic champion in Tokyo, in addition to two Masters 1,000 (Madrid and Cincinnati). He has already accumulated 19 in his career at 24 years old and is number three in the world. He still lacks the icing on the cake of winning a Grand Slam (“Yes, I look closer than ever, why not,” he warned.), as his opponent did a few months ago at the US Open. “You are the leader of our generation,” he told him at the trophy presentation.

“There is no better way to finish the course, but we have to think about being ready for the next one, to see what happens,” added Sascha. after a lackluster encounter due to its absolute superiority from start to finish, which left it without history. A couple of breaks decided and Medvedev could do nothing to avoid an outcome that this time, unlike in his previous duel, was very fast. This is modern tennis when the Big Three is not around. “I hope there are more endings like this,” Daniil wishes after this new NextGen classic. The future is here.

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