Concentrated, sovereign, strong: Alexander Zverev has taken everything out of his defeat against Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals in London – and is now allowed to play Roger Federer.
When Alexander Zverev took a look at his opponent John Isner’s box of honour on Friday before the match began, he had last year’s nightmare in mind. Jack Sock, the man who had sensationally eliminated Zverev in 2017 on the home straight of the World Cup group stage, sat there with Isner’s coaching team. At that time Zverev had to travel on holiday crushed and embittered, the awarding of the title took place without him, without the star who had failed because of his nerves.
But now things went completely differently and with a different result: Zverev remained ice-cold in the hour of the biggest challenge of the whole tennis year, he was highly concentrated, at the same time sovereign and relaxed in an all or nothing situation – and when it was settled after 82 minutes in London’s O2 Arena, the 21-year-old Hamburg player was after a 7:6 (7:5), 6:3 victory over Isner, the best buddy, further in the middle of the big game for the biggest trophy of the ATP Tour. “I’m incredibly happy now,” said Zverev, the Isner, the “Lord of the Aces,” who took out his own weapons. 18 Asse Zverevs, only one single, then defended break ball in all his service games, rows of convincingly won service points – that was the foundation for the victory of the German number one at his most impressive World Cup appearance, for the advance into the semi-finals.
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So Zverev’s season is going into the extra time of a thrilling final weekend, where the top four will be left at this championship of the eight best of 2018. And Zverev’s reward on Saturday, again at 3 pm (Sky Sport live), is an appointment with Maestro Roger Federer, one of the most successful players in this final tournament. “It’s always a dream to compete against him,” said Zverev, “I hope I can balance the balance.”
So far Federer leads 3:2 in a personal comparison, the last duel between the stars of different generations also took place at the ATP Finals twelve months ago, Federer won in the preliminary round in three sets. The 37-year-old artist is a formative figure of this World Cup, in his 16 participations he reached the semi-finals no less than 15 times. Federer, six-time world championship winner and 99-time tournament winner, has often enough acted like a career advisor for Zverev in the past, repeatedly rebuilding the young Hamburg player after failures, most recently after his early failure at the US Open.
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But the semi-final at the World Cup is now the most important match in the sporting rivalry and relationship. It’s a good thing that Zverev got himself self-confidence and confidence with his almost impeccable performance against his friend Isner. “I stayed fully in my rhythm, made hardly any decisive mistakes,” said Zverev later. What one noticed early on: Zverev was very well prepared for his complicated task and test against Isner, against the violent opponent, who hardly allowed any chances for the recoil. So Zverev took it with stoic composure that the action moved inexorably towards the gamble of a tiebreak in set one. And there he took advantage of Isner’s slight moment of weakness, won the point at 5:5 to 6:5 and then served the set.
After that one never had the impression that Zverev’s mission could still go wrong. The 21-year-old chased his buddy Isner (33) into the field with aces and winning strokes time and time again, and at 4:3 and Isner’s serve there was finally the only break. And also in his last service game, to win 6:3 overall, Zverev remained iron-clad on victory and semi-final advance. He can now play Federer with ease, he is not the man under pressure. Either way, the 2018 season ends with a conciliatory note for Germany’s number one.