When you could bake a son-in-law as a mother, he would be confusingly similar to the young man who last sat charming, funny and handsome in the ZDF “sports studio”. This is what a winner looks like. He has had the best year of his sporting life. He has won six tournaments, he became world champion and Olympic champion. Moderator Dunja Hayali digged into himself: How do you feel as a golden boy?
“Overwhelmed,” said Alexander Zverev. And then he described his emotions, his tears over the German anthem: “Olympia is the greatest. You don’t just play for yourself, not just for the team, but for a whole country. ”Hayali almost hugged him when he poured out his German heart. The next day he was also declared athlete of the year. “I can’t even describe what that means to me,” said the crowned one – it sounded like a declaration of love.
It’s as if Zverev started two affairs this year, one with Sophia Thomalla and one with Germany. He reports that his Olympic clothes with “Team D” on the front are already smelly because he doesn’t take them off anymore. And he talks a lot about Hamburg, that he is a real boy from the Waterkant and that he always smells the smell of his parents’ house. And that nothing changes if he travels around the world 300 days a year and spends the rest of the time in Monte Carlo as a Monegasse of his choice. What is home?
At the moment of triumph: On August 1st, Alexander Zverev won gold at the Olympic Games in Tokyo
Quelle: pa/dpa/TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov
Carolin Reiber, the unforgettable Bavarian TV presenter, once defined it like this: “Home, for me, that’s sitting on the bench in front of our house with a sandwich, chives and a fresh beer, together with the dog Bäri and our tame raven Jack. “Zverev also has a puppy, the poodle Lövik, but if you asked him where he feels at home, Lövik would at most bark.
At some point it was said that he was lifted
Home can be complicated. A sports star in particular can quickly become a homeless person. Zverev cheated for years. And complains that the Germans have lost their enthusiasm for tennis and do not adequately recognize its performance. Yes, we got sloppy because Steffi Graf and Boris Becker ruled the world at 17. Why has our child prodigy Zverev still not won a Grand Slam tournament, the spoiled nagged when he was 20 or 23. He was lifted, it was said at some point, coaches split up, an argument with the manager, and his ex-girlfriend Olya Sharypova spoke of domestic violence.
“Our Boris”, it used to be called at Becker. “Our Russian”, on the other hand at Zverev. No one drove a car with black, red and gold flagged windows, honking with happiness, as was the case with Boom-Boom-Boris. And unlike Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker, who went to the ZDF sports studio to meet the teenager Becker, Frank-Walter Steinmeier would have said a year ago: “Our Russian should win first.” At least the English fell for him. After his ATP World Cup victory in London in 2018, Zverev gave a humorous speech, and Boris Becker raved: “A German with a sense of humor who can laugh at himself – a star has arrived.” Just not at home.
That has to be different, Zverev decided in January and went on the charm offensive. “Now I just want the German people to get to know me better and to cheer me up,” he announced. Hamburgers should also love him, like Max Schmeling and Uwe Seeler in the past. Or the Klitschko brothers. Vitali and Wladimir were Ukrainians. But they personified our seal of approval Made in Germany, became world heavyweight champions, trained in a boxing stable in Wandsbek and were hamburgers, that’s that.
Vitali Klitschko was our new Schmeling. Once he boxed in Gelsenkirchen, and RTL put a couple of real Schalke in front of the camera, who credibly confirmed that Vitali is someone like them, a sweating, honest painter – nobody would have been surprised if the world champion matched this with a soot-smeared face Ring would have climbed with the miner’s lamp on your head and the greeting on your lips: “I’m a Schalke.”
Sportsman of the year: Alexander Zverev at the award ceremony with his partner Sophia Thomalla
Source: pa / dpa / dpa Pool / Tom Weller
In any case, we adopted the Klitschko brothers and fell in love with them. Everything about them was German, the manager, the trainer, and the Ukrainian weaker self they drove out with their German virtues and German medicine balls. Vitali even drank German. Once he thrashed the American Chris Arreola, a lover of Mexican Corona beer, in Los Angeles, whereupon a US journalist advised the loser: “Try German beer, like Klitschko.” Vitali laughed, in German. When the Klitschkos fought, the German celebrities always sat at the ring, and the actresses, from Veronica Ferres to Uschi Glas, raved about Wladimir. The Klitschkos were ours. Our German soul jumped in delight when Vitali in America, when asked why his son was called Max, revealed: “Because Max Schmeling was my friend.” Vitali also received the Federal Cross of Merit.
“I’m interested in what happens in Germany”
If Zverev does it like the Klitschkos, he’s doing everything right. The “star” recently put its patriotism to the test and asked: As a professional athlete, do you hear what is happening in Germany? Volley picked up Zverev and whipped the answer into the other longline’s ear: “Definitely yes. I am interested in everything that happens in Germany. I grew up in this country. It is important for me to know what is going on here. “
The German punctuality praises Zverev, and the cleanliness and culture. After his career he wants to live in Germany again. Hamburgers should rave about “Uns Uwe” as well as “Uns Sascha”, he says: “People should know: This is our boy, for him we get up at four in the morning and watch the Grand Slam final . “
Yes, he lives in Monte Carlo. Yes, he has Russian roots. And yes, he has a poodle instead of a German shepherd. But none of that changes the crucial truth: “At the end of the day,” says Zverev, “I’m German.”
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