Grand Slam tournament
Zverev loses to arch-rival Medvedev and misses the final in Melbourne
Alexander Zverev in the Rod Laver Arena at the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne
© Asanka Brendon Ratnayake / AP / DPA
Alexander Zverev had everything under control against Daniil Medvedev for a long time. But then he has to admit defeat and misses his second final at a Grand Slam tournament.
Through one of the bitterest defeats of his career Alexander Zverev narrowly missed out on making it to the final of the Australian Open. The Olympic tennis champion lost in the semifinals on Friday in Melbourne against his arch rival Daniil Medvedev from Russia 7:5, 6:3, 6:7 (4:7), 6:7 (5:7), 3:6 and gave up a victory that was believed to be certain was still out of hand. Medvedev used his first match point after 4:18 hours and thus destroyed Zverev’s dream of his first Grand Slam title.
In the final on Sunday, Medvedev will face the Italian Jannik Sinner, who somewhat surprisingly defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic 6:1, 6:2, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3. Sinner ended the Serb’s super series in Melbourne. It was the world number one’s first defeat on the Yarra River after 2,195 days.
The last time Djokovic had to admit defeat was South Korean Chung Hyeon in the round of 16 in 2018. He then won 33 games in a row in Melbourne and won four of his ten titles in Melbourne in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. He missed 2022 due to his lack of a coronavirus vaccination. Medvedev against Sinner is the first Australian Open final since 2005 in which neither Djokovic, Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer takes part.
Alexander Zverev before the game: “I’m only in the semi-finals”
Zverev has appeared in a Grand Slam final once so far. In 2020 he was already leading 2-0 sets in the final of the US Open against the Austrian Dominic Thiem, but then lost the game. The 26-year-old would have been the third German in the men’s final of the Australian Open. Boris Becker played in the finals in Melbourne in 1991 and 1996 and won both times. In 2003, Rainer Schüttler surprisingly made it to the final, but was clearly defeated by the American Andre Agassi in three sets.
Zverev had everything under control against Medvedev for a long time. But then his nerves failed him in the tiebreaks. With his head hanging, Zverev left the Rod Laver Arena, where he would have loved to play for the title on Sunday.
“I’m only in the semi-finals and haven’t won the tournament yet,” Zverev said before the game against Medvedev. And it was precisely with this attitude that the Hamburg native went into the encounter. As against Alcaraz, Zverev started strong and took Medvedev’s serve twice. However, the Russian also helped diligently with a total of four double faults.
Zverev moved ahead to 4-1, but then faded a bit. Medvedev was able to make up for the two breaks. But Zverev held on, played two world-class stop balls at the net at the end of the first set and won the first round after 58 minutes. Zverev put his finger to his ear and encouraged the audience to cheer loudly.
Many errors in the decision sentence
Last year Zverev lost five of six duels with Medvedev. But Zverev didn’t want to attach great importance to this. “He was at his best last year, I was coming back from an injury, my self-confidence wasn’t there,” said Zverev. “And then you let a lot of things get you out. He put that to good use last year. I hope I’m a different player this year.”
And indeed, this time Zverev remained calm and focused. But Medvedev also seemed strangely emotionless, this time not trying to break the German’s rhythm with any psychological games. Because Zverev usually won the very long rallies, actually a specialty of Medvedev, the 26-year-old remained on course for the final. He took serve from the world number three to make it 3-2, and after 1:43 hours Zverev took set number two.
Medvedev improved in the third round. The 2021 US Open champion now served better and took advantage of Zverev’s weak phase in the tiebreak to take the third set. Medvedev also had a slight advantage in the fourth set. Again the decision had to be made in the tiebreak, where Zverev was already leading 5:4 but was unable to maintain his lead. In the deciding set, Zverev made too many mistakes and conceded the decisive break at 2:3.
Djokovic is also frustrated
Sinner had previously shown a very strong performance against Djokovic and fully deserved to reach the first Grand Slam final of his career. Djokovic was completely satisfied afterwards. “That was one of my worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played. I was shocked at the level I played,” said a frustrated Djokovic. “To be honest, I didn’t play well the whole tournament. Jannik completely dominated me today and completely deserved to win.”
The Italian, the most dominant player in the tournament so far, was just proud. “Being in the final is great. I’ll go out on the pitch with a smile,” said last year’s Davis Cup champion.