For the first time in history, a German has won the men’s Olympic tennis tournament: Alexander Zverev, who defeated Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3 and 6-1, already without the multi-champion of Grand Slams, Serbian Novak Djokovic, whom he had knocked out in the semifinals.
The 24-year-old German can now boast of a gold medal when he has yet to win a major. During the Olympic final, he won 87% (26/30) of his first serve points and signed 22 winners, in addition to only losing one set in his entire participation in Tokyo.
“There’s nothing better than this. You are not just playing for yourself, you are playing for your country and the Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world. The feeling that I have now, and that I will have, nothing will be better ”, he said at the end of his award ceremony.
So far in 2021, Zverev has also won the titles at the Mutua Madrid Open and the Mexican Open in Acapulco. He came to Tokyo 2020 as the fourth best seeded behind Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev (Russia) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece).
In this way, he won the first gold medal for Germany in tennis since 1988, when Steffi Graff won it in Seoul. In men, the best result so far was Tommy Haas’ silver at Sydney 2000.
The silver went to the Russian Khachanov and the bronze to the Spanish Pablo Carreño, who beat Djokovic amid a tantrum from the Serbian, who threw his racket against the ground, because in Tokyo 2020 he was looking to win the Golden Slam that they have only achieved, so far André Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graff and Serena Williams.
Belinda Bencic confirms her legacy with gold
In the women’s branch, the Swiss Bencic was crowned against the Czech Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3, becoming the ninth woman in modern tennis to win an individual gold along with Stefanie Graff, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin, Venus and Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva and Monica Puig.
The Swiss had arrived in Tokyo as the ninth best seeded, as above her were figures such as Ashleigh Barty (Australia), Naomi Osaka (Japan) and Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus); however, she left behind such leaders as Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic), the reigning Roland Garros champion, and the experienced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia).
“For me, this is the most important thing for an athlete, so I can’t believe that he has two medals and one of them is gold,” Bencic said through tears, as he also added a silver in doubles with Viktorija Golubic, who finally the Czechs Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova won.
Switzerland has a great tradition in tennis. Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Martina Hingis won multiple Slams. But never gold in singles. Bencic is more like Marc Rosset, the 1992 singles gold medalist for Switzerland. He never won a Grand Slam singles title, but in Barcelona he found a way to beat Jim Courier and Goran Ivanisevic, among others.
The bronze in the women’s singles went to the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, while in the doubles, it went to the Brazilians Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani. In mixed, the gold winners were the Russians Andrey Rubley and Pavlyuchenkova, the silver went to the also Russians Aslan Karatsev and Yelena Vesnina, while the bronze went to the Australians John Peers and Barty.
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