Zverev ruins Djokovic’s ATP end-of-year party

Alexander Zverev once again handed Novak Djokovic a painful defeat, this time in the ATP Finals, the Masters Cup that has been hanging over the Serbian since he won it for the fifth time in 2015. The German, who a few months ago in Tokyo left the world number one without the possibility of finally winning Olympic gold, He beat him in another semifinal of a posh contest (7-6 (4), 4-6 and 6-4 in 2h28) and will play this Sunday (5:00 p.m., #Vamos) in the title match against Daniil Medvedevcurrent champion, who easily got rid of the Norwegian Casper Ruud (6-4 and 6-2) and is on a nine-match winning streak in the tournament.

“I haven’t spent more time on court this year with anyone and every time I have to play at a high level. “This has not been an exception,” said the winner., who had faced Djokovic four times already in 2021 and lost three. Zverev, a tennis player whose game shines with special intensity on hard courts and indoors (in these conditions he has already won six titles), He aspires to win his second trophy at the Masters, after the one he lifted in 2018 precisely against Djokovic, whom he has beaten four times in 11 meetings.

Nole arrived grown up after beating Medvedev in the Paris-Bercy final and looked confident and happy, but he ran into one of the opponents who, from time to time, knows how to worry him and that the ATP end-of-year party made him bitter, because he still has an ITF competition left, the Davis Cup. Not in vain, Sascha is the best of the year in victories with 58, the same as the Russian, his next opponent, has accumulated. Nole says goodbye to 2021 with three Grand Slam titles, one Masters 1,000 and a 250… and the final of the US Open. He does it, furthermore, on the throne. He’s not bad.

In the first set the level of tennis was very high. Djokovic lost it due to small details, including his second serve (with first serves he only lost two goals), which Zverev attacked well, and reliability in long exchanges, a specialty of the house in which the Teuton shone on many occasions over the master. But above all, because he did not take advantage of the opportunity to close the set by having a point to be able to do it to the rest with 5-4 in favor. Then he raised two break points and the tiebreaker became inevitable. There the Balkan player failed in his service and his rival beat him.

Unsuccessful reaction

For a few moments, Djokovic seemed out of the match. He made some big mistakes and he didn’t look comfortable even with the ball boys. But he held his own, withstood Zverev’s barrage of serves, going behind on the scoreboard, and converted his third break chance at the right moment. Then, painfully, he made his fifth set point and extended the match.

Zverev did not suffer the blow, because he was still at a high altitude, fast, sharp and with a fantastic behavior to the rest, adapted to the swing that the leader of the ranking proposed., which tried to take him down the street of bitterness with its dictatorial reverse. But one of them went wide over the baseline and suddenly he found himself with a break against him. Sascha had to preserve his powerful shifts of duty. Something easy to say, but difficult to execute against a legendary and enraged champion. He achieved this with a remarkable ability to resist pressure. He knew how to suffer and save strength to continue firing guns.

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