French Open: Alexander Zverev and the loss of control with consequences
It was only a brief moment of carelessness on the part of Alexander Zverev , who may have brought him to a closer match against Novak Djokovic - or even more.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit:
Jun 06, 2019, 06:51 pm
It was pretty much a quarter of an hour played on the Center Court in Paris - and things looked good for Alexander Zverev. Zverev led 5: 4 against the world number one Novak Djokovic, he served, he led 30:15, only two points were missing to win the 1-0 set. Then the German surprisingly tried his luck with a stop ball, but Djokovic sensed the plan, he won the ball change. It was 30:30.
And suddenly everything was very different in this quarter-final game at the French Open. Zverev, initially the better and more aggressive man, the more convincing of the two players, immediately gave up his serve to 5: 5, he lost exasperated game after game. Within a few minutes, the whole duel turned and turned, Zverev never recovered from the missed set management, in the end he went beaten with 5: 7, 2: 6 and 2: 6 in 129 minutes. The French Open adventure was over.
"It was a crucial moment, the end of the first sentence," said Zverev in a first reaction, "if you fall behind him, everything will be much more difficult." Overall, Zverev's energy management was also not right in this Grand Slam, stated Eurosport expert Boris Becker, “He used too much power in the first few laps. You will notice that against someone like Djokovic at some point. "
Djokovic two matches away from the second "Djoker slam"
Zverev was out of the cup raffle in Paris, failed like last year in the round of eight, at that time the Austrian Dominic Thiem was the fun spoiler for the 22-year-old from Hamburg. Thiem, who later became the 2018 finalist, is now Djokovic's semi-final opponent, the penultimate man who can stop the world number one from trying to regain all four Grand Slam titles at the same time - as he did before 2015 and 2016. Thiem, on Thursday 6-2, 6-4, 6--2 winners against the Russian Karen Khachanov, and Djokovic have to go back to their jobs in the red sand this Friday as well as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - the two of them However, Titans only intervene again at the International French Championships after a relaxing two-day break.
Zverev will lose control of the loss of control in the final phase of the first sentence. After all, until then he had had a surprisingly confident grip on the Djoker, the Schlaks played against the tournament favorites as powerfully and courageously as when he had his biggest tennis moment so far, like when he triumphed in the World Cup final last November - also against Djokovic. "He takes his heart in his hand. He dictates the match, he directs it here, ”said analyst Becker. Zverev had his chances in almost every of Djokovic's first service games, but he didn't break until 5: 4. This was followed by the fateful 20 minutes, which brought Zverev a set gap, but also a 0: 3 deficit in the second act. It was a blow to the neck, a heavy punch against your own morals.
# BETATHOMEFOWIN #
For Zverev, it continues in Halle
You could feel that Zverev's legs suddenly became heavier, each step hurt a little more than before. The last service game in the second set was symptomatic of Zverev's instability and the mental downward spiral. The Hamburger then added three double errors to his balance sheet, two in a row to make it 0-2 behind.
Djokovic didn't burn much after that, he dominated the game. Two careless mistakes by Zverev then helped the Capitano to the decisive 4-2 break in the third round. Trainer father Alexander senior was already packing his towel in the stands, he knew it was over. And that was it, with the next break for 6: 2 for Djokovic. The fans on Center Court said goodbye to Zverev with warm applause. But there was little consolation. Next stop for Zverev: the lawn tournament in Halle from the weekend after next.
Bet live on ALL French Open games now and collect a € 100 bonus!