The world of tennis will meet a brand new grand slam champion on Sunday. In the absence of the big three – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the disqualified Novak Djokovic – the German Alexander Zverev is also among the four remaining candidates. However, his performances arouse controversial feelings in experts.
Experts predict that the winner of the US Open will emerge from the semifinals between Russian Daniil Medvedev and Austrian Dominik Thiem. Both tennis players have excelled in New York so far, both have not lost a single set in five matches so far. It is their duel that is supposed to be a kind of premature final.
Zverev, as well as his dangerous semi-final opponent, the Spaniard Pablo Carreño-Busta, remain in the background.
Although Zverev has made it to the semifinals of both previous grand slams this season, the former super-talent is still under fire from critics.
He struggled in some matches, he had to play four sets in the first three rounds, the set was taken by the Croatian Borna Čorič in the quarterfinals. Only one duel has played without complications so far. His great difficulties in service persist, astonishing his lax to surrendered attitude in those phases of the match when he fails.
Experts are not surprised that they still do not count on him in the fight for a loose grand slam throne.
Martina Navrátilová also joined the critics.
“You can’t just hit the ball, put it back in the game. If you just play so you don’t lose, you’ll win a lot of matches against weaker players. But you certainly won’t win grand slams,” the legend of world tennis made it clear how Zverev’s game didn’t appeal to her.
“If he plays like he did in the first half of the match against Čorič, he will never beat the best. They are too good for that,” Navrátilová added in an interview for Amazon Prime.
One of the journalists at the US Open took her critical words out of context and presented them to Zverev at a press conference. The Germans were obviously not pleased and decided to defend himself.
“Maybe she should look at my statistics against the big three,” advised Navratilova, a 23-year-old longtime.
“She should see that I have a positive balance with Roger. That I beat Novak in a few big and final matches. And I’m here in the semifinals. Sometimes it’s more important to find a way to advance, even if you don’t play as best you can,” he said. hear Zverev.
Finally, he waved at Navratilova. “She’s a grand slam winner, even multiple. She’s respected, but at the moment I’m not interested in her opinion.”
The beast may be right in one fundamental thing. He advanced among the top four without showing up in full form. There are huge reserves in his performances, and if he can fill them in the crucial stages of the tournament, he can close the mouths of all doubters.
Even though he seemed to give up his situation in his head several times, he always found the way to victory, seemingly naturally and painlessly. This may be a sign of a great force that remains hidden from the outside.
Navrátilová, of course, learned about Zverev’s reaction and preferred to re-interpret her previous statements.
According to her, the German will not be able to succeed if he is passive in key duels, as was the case at the beginning of the duel against Čorič. In the first set, he won a single game and acted lethargically, dispassionately, like a body without a soul.
He then lost with the break in the second act, for the first time he cheered up loudly only when he was able to equalize at 4: 4.
Only then did he begin to play aggressively, confidently and aggressively, moreover with appropriate enthusiasm.
“The question on the press was asked completely out of context. I said Sasha needs to play like in the fourth set, not like in the first two. It’s simple. But yes, nice journalism, whoever asked the question. I would answer just like Sasha , “said a woman who won 59 grand slam titles during her career, eighteen of them in singles.
– .
