Zverev outshines Djokovic, cuts short his bid for a Golden Slam

Unfortunately, Novak Djokovic’s bid to clinch a Golden Slam has been cut short by Alexander Zverev. That has happened in the semi-finals at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

Novak, who is the world number one tennis player was determined to ensure that he marks the first man to win all four majors and an Olympic singles gold medal in the same calendar year.

That would require a lot of determination and zeal as only one tennis player, Steffi Graf, have achieved it before.

Steffi achieved the historic win back in the year 1988.

Alexander Zverev, who is 24 years old, was surely a force to be reckoned with as he triumphed the game.

The scores of really shown that Alex was determined. He knocked out Serbia’s Djokovic 1-6 6-3 6-1 in the semi-finals.

After the historic win, Alexander Zverev is now set to face Karen Khachanov in the final, in which all are now set to see who will carry it home.

On the other hand, Novak will now be required to be determined to face Pablo Carreno Busta, who hails from Spain, in the bronze medal tournament.

Novak had performed exemplary in the last eight games, lost two against Kei Nishikori. The two he lost were in the quarter-finals.

When it comes to Alexander, he has as well maintained a good game and thus this semi-final seemed like Djokovic’s toughest hurdle.

One of the biggest challenges that Novak faced was the humidity that is taking centre stage in Tokyo, something that he is not used to.

Continuation

Therefore, he pleaded with the organizers to push the game forward to avoid too much heat. It was set to start from 11 am to 3 pm.

However, the conditions got extremely worst and therefore kept the game pending until nearly 5 pm.

Novak looked set and well prepared, he hailed in the opening set and broke Zverev for 3-2 in the second set.

On the other hand, Alexander started to make great achievements as the game took a turn and became much-hyped.

Zverev bagged a whopping eight games in a row, before Djokovic, at last, stopped the trend to hold 1-4 in the final.

Nevertheless, Novak was at last outshined by Zverev, something that many would not expect.

After the match, Alexander expressed himself. He said he was happy he won the match but on the other hand, understood what that meant for his opponent.

“I told him that he’s the greatest of all time, and he will be,” Zverev told reporters.

“I know that he was chasing history, is chasing the ‘Golden Slam’ and was chasing the Olympics, but in these kinds 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.”

Novak Djokovic had prior won the Australian Open, French Open as well as Wimbledon, this year. This, therefore, meant that he needed the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open title, to complete the full set.

Moreover, the victory at the last grand slam of the year would still take the 34-year-old to 21 major titles, thus surpassing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Roger and Nadal have 20 majors each to their name.

Alexander Zverev Biography

Alexander Zverev is a professional tennis player, born on 20^th April 1997 in Hamburg, Germany. The 24 years old has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Additionally, he has been a permanent fixture in the top 10 since July 2017. Zverev was the champion at the 2018 ATP Finals, making him the youngest winner at the year-end championship in a decade.

Moreover, he is the only active player outside of the big three with four ATP Masters 1000 titles.

The tennis icon has won 15 ATP titles in singles and two in doubles. He reached his first final of a major at the 2020 US Open, finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem.

Nevertheless, Zverev is a former world No. 1 junior, and won a junior Grand Slam singles title at the 2014 Australian Open.

The determined tennis player had an early breakthrough on the professional tour as well, becoming one of the youngest Challenger title winners in history at the age of 17.

As a teenager, Zverev won two ATP titles and also upset then-world No. 3 Roger Federer on grass. At 20 years old, he was the youngest player to debut in the top 20 since Novak Djokovic.

On top the Laver Cup, Alexander has played an instrumental role in Team Europe’s early success in the competition, winning the clinching matches in 2018 and 2019.

Later on , the tennis star has had many other career achievements.