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At least he avoided the impending end: Alexander Zverev kept his dream of getting ahead in the ATP Finals in London, but once again, briefly, he did not control his emotions in the face of a tantrum.
Germany’s best player and winner of the 2018 tournament reacted to the inaugural loss in the duel with Russian Daniil Medvedev with a fighting performance in the preliminary second round match and defeated Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6: 3, 4; 6 and 6: 3.
With another success in the group’s final match “Tokyo 1970” on Friday against Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, who lost 3: 6 and 3: 6 to Medvedev on the night, the Hamburg-based company would advance to the semi-finals. at the end of the season for the top eight of the year. .
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“It was much better than Monday. Diego is very difficult to play. I am happy to have won and to have the opportunity to reach the semifinals,” Zverev said afterward.
Zverev: It will be more difficult against Djokovic
The deciding factor for Zverev’s success was the early break to 3-2 in the final round after a brilliant backhand volley. Before that, the 23-year-old had clearly won the first set and was initially on his way to winning.
But Schwartzman was not deterred by the German world number seven, he came back with a break after 2: 3 and worked his way to the deciding set as Zverev tensed in the deciding situations.
There the match then weighed back and forth, both professionals displayed comeback qualities, even if they were often favored by simple mistakes made by the competitor.
However, unlike Medvedev, Zverev served a bit more stable and won the game after 2:11 hours with the first ball of the match.
Zverev whips the ball into the stands
It seems doubtful that this performance, still far from his best, is enough to bring Djokovic to his knees.
“Now I am looking forward to Friday’s game. Playing here against Novak is the most difficult thing there is. I will have to improve significantly, I am well aware of that,” Zverev said after the overall mixed performance for the third win in Game 5 with Schwartzman.
Zverev and the Argentine last met at the end of October, and the German had no problems in the final of the ATP tournament in Cologne.
In the O2 arena, which was almost deserted due to the coronavirus pandemic, his serve was much better this time, in the first set Zverev only made three double errors. As a reminder: against Medvedev there were already double at the same time.
Next tantrum in Zverev
And yet Zverev, who had traveled to London with thigh problems, was again and again unable to concentrate, most recently due to accusations of violence from his ex-girlfriend Olga Sharipova.
Especially in the second set, when he gave up a 3-1 lead and made 16 avoidable errors, the right-hander didn’t have his nerves under control: in anger, he threw a ball into the stands and fought with his coach David Ferrer.
In the recent past, Zverev has repeatedly attracted attention with indiscipline.
