Djokovic has the chance to be the first man in 52 years to win the Grand Slam from all four major tournaments in one calendar year. Rod Laver last succeeded in doing this in 1969. “I will put my heart and my body in there. I will treat the next game as if it was the last game of my career, ”announced the 34-year-old Serb for the final.
A triumph at the US Open would be Djokovic’s 21st tournament victory in a Grand Slam, which would make him the sole record holder. He currently shares the top spot in this ranking with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who also have 20 wins in a major. Zverev, on the other hand, has to wait a year after losing the US Open final against Austrian Dominic Thiem for his first triumph in a major. His streak of last 16 successful matches also ended. “He plays the best tennis when he has to. Many players don’t do that, ”said Zverev about his opponent after the game.
Djokovic turns on in the fifth set
In the first set, both players dominated their service game before Zverev had the first chance to break when the score was 3: 3 – and she missed. But the German struck at the next opportunity, got the break to 5: 4 and shortly afterwards with the third set ball the first round. For Djokovic it was the fourth loss of a set at the beginning of a game in a row.
A double error from Zverev enabled Djokovic to break early in the second set. The Serb pulled away to 3: 0 and took the service from the German again to 6: 2. In the third set the serve went up to 5: 4. At Zverev’s service, the world number one earned three breakballs. Zverev was able to fend off the second set ball in a mammoth ball change after 53 strokes – but Djokovic used the third to lead the set 2-1.
In the fourth set, an early break to 2: 1 was enough for the 24-year-old to subsequently equalize the set. In the decision, however, Zverev was lost. Djokovic managed two breaks and pulled away to 5-0. Zverev still operated a little cosmetic result with a rebreak to 2: 5. Djokovic could not be dissuaded by this and finally used his first match ball after a playing time of 3:33 hours.
Medvedev with a convincing performance
For Medvedev, it is the third Grand Slam final of his career after the US Open 2019 and the Australian Open at the beginning of the year. He has not yet won any. Against Auger-Aliassime, the 25-year-old Russian showed another convincing performance, but was still not entirely satisfied. “I don’t think I played my best tennis, but I’m happy to be in the final on Sunday,” said Medvedev in a first reaction on the pitch at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
On the way to the final, Medvedev fended off two set balls from Auger-Aliassime in the second set at 3: 5, who then completely lost the thread. Medvedev continued to play at a very high level in the third round and took the break to 2-1 early on. After a total of 2:04 hours, he moved into the final without losing any further set. In the entire tournament, he only made one set.
“Against an opponent like that, you have no room for error. You can’t lose focus either, which unfortunately happened to me at the end of the second sentence. Daniil used that to his advantage, after that I didn’t get a chance. I should have played my best tennis to get into the final. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed long enough, ”said the Canadian, whose 19-year-old compatriot Leylah Fernandez is in the women’s final.
US Open in New York
Men’s singles:
