Alexander Zverev defeated world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the Olympic semifinals in 3 sets with 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1.
The dream of the “Golden Slam” is over for Novak Djokovic. The world number one from Serbia failed on Friday in the semifinals of the Olympic tennis tournament against the German Alexander Zverev with 6: 1.3: 6.1: 6. Djokovic, who has already won the Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris and Wimbledon this year, has to end the dream of four Grand Slam successes plus Olympic gold in one year. Zverev meets Russian Karen Khachanov in the final.
Djokovic initially looked like the logical winner, after winning the first set also led in the second with a break (3: 2), and everything seemed to go as expected. The 24-year-old Zverev managed the rebreak immediately and was then apparently suddenly the clearly better player on the field. Zverev won the second set 6: 3 in 45 minutes and in the decisive third, the Hamburger broke in the first game. Djokovic only wrote to 1: 4 once, after 2:03 hours Zverev used his second match ball.
Djokovic only in the battle for bronze
The Serb was devastated after the game. “I feel so terrible right now, in every way. I hope I can recover from it and at least win a medal for my country tomorrow,” said Djokovic, referring to the battle for bronze against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. Regarding Zverev, the number one said: “I have to give him credit for turning the match. He served extremely well. My serve, on the other hand, got worse and worse. My game fell apart.”
Zverev now gold favorite
The mood among Germans was understandably completely contrary. “I now have a medal for Germany, that’s an amazing feeling,” said the 2020 US Open finalist at Eurosport. “It was definitely one of the most emotional” moments of his career, said the proud but completely exhausted Zverev after his success. Brother Mischa Zverev was also completely blown away: “I can’t say anything. I cried a thousand times, then I laughed, then I was angry. So emotional, it was exhausting,” he said. Zverev already has silver, like compatriot Tommy Haas 21 years ago, and in the final on Sunday against the Russian surprise finalist Khachanov, Zverev is the favorite, at least on paper.
Immediately after the match, Zverev hugged his opponent Djokovic for a long time. Zverev said he apologized to the Serbs for messing up a historic success. This means that Steffi Graf’s triumphal procession from 1988 remains one-of-a-kind for the time being, when she managed the Golden Slam with an Olympic victory and four Grand Slam titles in one calendar year.
Djokovic also only had a bronze chance in doubles
For Djokovic it put another damper on Friday evening, he lost in the mixed competition at the side of Nina Stojanovic in the semifinals against Elena Wesnina and Aslan Karazew (ROC) 6: 7 (4), 5: 7 and also has in this competition “only” the chance for bronze. In the final, Wesnina / Karazew meet their compatriots Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova / Andrej Rublew.
Khachanov had also surprised in the first individual semi-final. The world number 25. from Russia decided the duel against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno-Busta in just 79 minutes with 6: 3,6: 3 and is on the way to his greatest success so far. The Russian tennis professional has never made it past the quarter-finals at Grand Slam tournaments, but the 25-year-old has already secured silver at these summer games. The final will be played on Sunday, the bronze game on Saturday.
The first tennis decision in Tokyo was made in the men’s doubles on Friday. In a purely Croatian final in the Ariake Tennis Park, Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic prevailed 6: 4,3: 6 and 10: 6 in the match tiebreak against their compatriots Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig. Mektic / Pavic are the successors of Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, who triumphed in Rio. Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus won bronze with a 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 2 against Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren from the USA.
