Zverev battles back to deny Djokovic golden shot at Tokyo 2020
Alexander Zverev fought back from a set and a break down to turn the tables on world No. 1 Novak Djokovic with a stunning 1-6 6-3 6-1 victory and book his place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medal match, where he will face ROC’s Karen Khachanov.
The No. 4 seed will bid to become Germany’s first Olympic singles gold medallist since Steffi Graf in 1988, and first ever men’s singles champion after matching silver medal-winner Tommy Haas’s run to the final at Sydney 2000.
"It's an amazing feeling, knowing that you're going to bring the medal back to your house, back home to Germany," Zverev said. "It's incredible beating the best player in the world undoubtedly right now, and in this season. It seemed it was impossible to beat him at this event, so I’m very happy right now. But there's still one match to go."
For Djokovic, his third semi-final run at the Games has ended in defeat once more. The Beijing 2008 bronze medalist will play for a second bronze against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, while he remains in contention for the medals in the mixed doubles draw with Serbian teammate Nina Stojanovic. But hopes for a career golden slam remain on hold, while his shot at a calendar golden slam to match Steffi Graf's 1988 season have been dashed.
"I told him that he's the greatest of all time, and he will be," Zverev said of the duo's exchange at the net. "I know that he was chasing history, chasing the golden slam and was chasing the Olympics, but in these kind of moments me and Novak are very close. Of course I'm happy that I've won, but at the end of the day I know how Novak feels."
So impressive against Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, Djokovic expected a stern examination from No. 4 seed Zverev, who has been every bit as dominant en route to the semi-finals. And so it proved in the early exchanges, Zverev in full flight as he brought up break point in the opening game and pushed the top seed throughout a lengthy third game, only to be undone by a pitch-perfect Djokovic drop shot.
By then the match was over 15 minutes old, and on his first return to the bench Zverev changed his wristbands, a sign of the toll it had taken in such sweltering conditions to rattle the 20-time Grand Slam champion. But Djokovic showed no signs of fatigue, breaking Zverev twice in a five-game tear that sealed the first set.
With both players cheered on by a crop of vocal compatriots on Centre Court, Zverev did well to halt Djokovic’s momentum at the start of the second. His work looked to have come undone on serve at 2-2, netting a low volley after the serve on break point before blasting the ball high into the stands in frustration.
From there, however, Zverev turned the match on its head. An eight-point tear courtesy of some blistering ball-striking, got him back ahead on serve at 4-3, but that was just the start – suddenly it was one-way traffic for the German, who broke again to lead 5-3 and recovered from 0-30 down to serve out the set, taking Djokovic into a decider for the first time at Tokyo 2020.
"I was playing his game, I was rallying with him a lot, so I needed to change it up, I needed to swing through the ball a little bit more," Zverev explained of his part in the turnaround. "I started playing much more aggressive, and yeah, I tried to dominate that way."
Djokovic left the court before the start of the third to redress and regroup, but Zverev was relentless. With the world No. 1 out of sorts, the 24-year-old continued to press and broke twice more, a stunning eight-game surge that had Djokovic screaming at his support team.
The Serbian stopped the streak to get on the board at 4-1, but it was a brief reprieve. Zverev broke once more with a backhand winner on his first match point to seal victory in two hours, three minutes, before embracing the world No. 1 at the net as the emotions of his victory hit him.
"You're not only playing for yourself," Zverev explained. "You are playing for the whole country, for the people here, for everybody watching and supporting you."