üAlexander Zverev fell to his knees after his golden coup, covering his face with his hands. The 24-year-old from Hamburg won the Olympic finals 6:3, 6:1 and became the first men’s singles Olympic champion in German tennis history.
“We brought the gold home. What a match! Crazy,” Zverev’s brother Misha said at the Euro Arena. The German football champion from Munich congratulated Zverev in a Bayern jersey. 33 years after sports icon Steffi Graf won the championship, the German Tennis Association once again won the individual gold medal. In the semifinals against Serbia’s top star Novak Djokovic, Zverev seized the opportunity within his reach.
With a firm and impressive performance, Zverev created a little miracle in Tokyo in the final against Karen Khachanov of Russia. Unlike the sensational world No. 1 success, Zverev did not cry. He was beaming. In the stands, Alfons Hörmann, Chairman of DOSB, applauded.
Zverev is brave and powerful
At 5:17 pm local time, a piece of German tennis history began with the first rally. On another hot day in Tokyo, the central court is now in the shade, and Zverev arrives as expected. When Chatschanow hit the ball for the second time, the German number one successfully scored. He modified it with a smash ball and showed it in advance.
The fifth-ranked game in the world continues to be brave and powerful. I did not let myself be disturbed by the cries of protests from the Olympics, which originally echoed on the field from the outside. In the past few years, serving as an accidental weakness has always made him lose possible victories. But even on the most important day of his stay in Japan, the serve helped him like the previous game-but his own serve rarely appeared tricky.
At 5:3, Zverev decided to meet the challenge at the right time. Video evidence showed that Khachanov’s ball was as close to the line as possible. A cunning volley by opponent Zverev made the German delegation, including the chairman of DOSB Alfons Hörmann, happy to win the first set.
“You must have the silver medal, now bring back the gold medal for Germany!” German tennis legend Boris Becker gave the finalists in Eurosport’s greeting. Becker hopes that Zverev can do what he could not do: he won the Olympic doubles gold medal with Michael Stitch in 1992.
Zverev continued to be emotional. When he backhanded the score to 1-0 in the second set, the 1.98-meter right shooter released his nervousness. The fast break followed closely, and Zverev threw his fist out-as if to confirm that he didn’t want to miss this opportunity again. “I think he enjoys it now. If you don’t like tennis now, you will never like it,” said Misha Zverev of Eurosport.
Unlike his crazy victory over Djokovic, Zverev is the most popular this time. The 25-year-old Khachanov is ranked 25th in the world, 20 places lower than Zverev. Even at 4:0, Zverev, who played better and more liberated, caught the opponent’s serve. 1:19 hours later, he changed his first game ball.
In the US Open final last year, although Zverev led the start and was only two points away from his Grand Slam dream, he still couldn’t resist the pressure of Austrian Dominic Tim. In this game with only two wins, he didn’t give his opponent more chances this time.
It has been 21 years since Tommy Haas became the last German to take home a silver medal in a men’s singles match. Five years ago, Angelique Kerber returned from Rio de Janeiro with a silver medal. For Brazil, Zverev canceled the game due to health reasons. Now he is enjoying the Olympic atmosphere-and crowning himself a gold medal!
