Alexander Zverev scored his first victory at the ATP finals in Turin more easily than expected. However, that was more due to his opponent Matteo Berrettini. It was devastated.
Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev won a long, exciting opening match at the season finale due to the abandonment of his opponent Matteo Berrettini. The world number three from Hamburg led 7: 6 (9: 7), 1: 0 against the crowd favorite when his opponent had to leave the pitch due to an injury on Sunday evening in Turin.
Zverev thus made the first step on the intended path to the semifinals of the ATP Finals. “I feel bad right now,” said Zverev. “I don’t know what to say because that’s the worst feeling a player can have. I’m very sorry for Matteo.”
“Worst day of my career”
Berrettini also showed himself to be badly bent at the press conference afterwards – also because the mood of the around 7,000 fans was “one of the best” he has ever experienced. “It’s probably the worst day of my tennis career,” said the 25-year-old: “The fact that I wasn’t able to finish the match kills me.” He left it open whether he could compete in his two other group games. His compatriot Jannik Sinner would be available as a replacement.
Unimpressed by frenetic Italian fans, the world number three from Hamburg had previously secured the very competitive first set. At the beginning of the second round, Berrettini dropped the bat on the floor in the second game, got treatment and tried to defend himself again briefly, but had to acknowledge that he could no longer play.
Goodbye to Medvedev
In his second match of these ATP Finals on Tuesday, Zverev will soon see the Russian defending champion Daniil Medvedev in a duel between two opening winners. The US Open winner started with a 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 3, 6: 4 against the Polish tournament debutant Hubert Hurkacz.
Zverev must be at least second in his group of four in order to reach the semi-finals next Saturday. The year-end tournament of the eight best tennis professionals of the season won the Hamburg-based man three years ago and this time, after several successful months, he is one of the favorites – as well as Medvedev. Zverev had no chance against the second in the world rankings at the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris on Saturday a week ago, also because he felt drained from the exertion of the past few months.
Fans stood behind Berrettini
Berrettini was enthusiastically cheered on by the audience in the hall, which was not completely filled due to the Corona crisis. But Zverev was not impressed by the atmosphere. “I’m a fan of it when it’s loud in the stadium. I also like it when people are against me,” he said before the match.
The number three in the world had an advantage in the longer rallies, served strongly and was closer to a break than the Italian from the start. However, the hamburger did not take advantage of his opportunities to remove the service from his opponent. So it stayed tight and suddenly Berrettini had his first two break chances at 5: 6 from Zverev’s point of view, which were equivalent to set balls. Zverev saved himself in the tiebreak and won the first round after 79 minutes before the match came to a dramatic and unexpected end.
For the first time, the tennis elite compete in the multi-purpose hall Pala Alpitour, until 2025 after twelve years the event was awarded to Turin in London. It’s “great fun” in the “mega atmosphere”, said doubles player Kevin Krawietz, although he got off to a bad start. In the expected difficult opening match against the Wimbledon and Olympic champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic from Croatia, he lost 4-6, 4-6 with the Romanian Horia Tecau. “Of course you’re a bit disappointed with the match,” said the man from Coburg: “It’s of course annoying that we get two breaks. We would have wanted to make it closer.”
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