Anyone who has gotten to know Alexander Zverev a little in recent years knows that there is only this one code in his theory of colors after defeats: #000000. Black. There is not a bright spot to be seen, even if the people come almost inspired from Stadium 1 of the Indian Wells tennis facility and say that they have not seen such a high-class, exciting, dramatic game like this one between Zverev and Daniil Medvedev for a long time : 196 minutes playing time, two tie breaks; Break and re-break at 4:5 and 5:5 in the deciding set; a nasty-looking injury from Medvedev, an even nastier tirade from the Russian about that surface in the California desert; a really brave, agile, playful Zverev – it doesn’t matter, it was: black.
“I’m not interested in anything, I lost,” said Zverev a few minutes after this game in the catacombs, and of course he also had good reasons for being in a bad mood. Zverev is a professional athlete looking to win, not a champagne-sipping guest looking to be entertained. Not only did he win the first set, but he literally upset Medvedev, who had previously won 16 consecutive matches and won three titles, so much that the Russian threatened after the first set that he actually wanted to climb a palm tree. “I’m going out now and I’ll take my time,” he snapped half to the referee and half to himself: “It may take a while, you can fine me five times for delaying – I don’t care.”
Medvedev’s displeasure was directed at the really slow surface in Indian Wells. Anyone who has hit a few balls, for example on training ground five, can confirm that a really dull sand court in Europe, on which tennis balls turn into yeast dumplings, is nimble in contrast to the underground in Indian Wells. Medvedev later apologized for his outburst of anger (“I have to work on myself, and I’m not just saying that. It’s my fault that I can’t deal with it.”) – but that didn’t help Zverev. Yes, he is making progress on his comeback from a serious injury. But he also lost a game that he should have won.
Zverev is at a point in his career that could be groundbreaking for the future
The 25-year-old had won the first set in the tie break and unnerved Medvedev; In the middle of the second half, the Russian twisted his ankle and thought about giving up: “It really hurt a lot, I had to limp between rallies. In the game itself, though, things went quite well.” Zverev had ten break chances in this round against someone who was battered and in a bad mood; There were 17 in total in the match. He couldn’t use any in the second set and only two in total. In the third set, Zverev then made the break to make it 5: 5 against one of the strongest players in the world – and then immediately gave up his serve, in the end with a double fault.
Of course you can see the good things on an afternoon like this. But it is also possible to see it like Zverev – who is currently under special observation. On the one hand because of the comeback, with which people are curious to see where he will place himself in the new world elite, in which the well-known names can no longer be found, but: Alcaraz, Fritz, Ruud, Rune. On the other hand, because the Netflix streaming service follows him everywhere in Indian Wells for the second season of the documentary series “Breaking Point”. The title is quite appropriate, Zverev is at a point in his career that could be groundbreaking for the future.
“Now there’s another documentary coming,” he says in California. The German TV station RTL will show a film with the title “The Unfinished” in the coming week. Zverev says: “I didn’t choose the name, but I trust people who know how to make and market films. But I’m 25 years old. I don’t think my career is over yet.” He knows exactly what needs to happen now to get where he’s been before, maybe a little higher: “Win. Not just games, but tournaments.” Next chance: Miami, next week, slow hard.