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Alexander Zverev during the game against Novak Djokovic: The next turn was not far away
Photo:
WILLIAM WEST / AFP
The missed big opportunity:
Roger Federer not there.
Novak Djokovic struck.
Rafael Nadal too.
With Aslan Karatsev a supposedly defeatable opponent in the semifinals.
For Alexander Zverev, everything was ready on his favorite surface for a return to a Grand Slam final, maybe even for the first title.
In the quarter-finals against Djokovic, Zverev also showed an excellent performance, he was in three sets with a break.
But in the end an amazing series lasted: Zverev has never won a Grand Slam tournament against a player from the top ten in the world rankings.
The result:
Djokovic wins after three and a half hours 6: 7, 6: 2, 6: 4 and 7: 6 and now meets Karatsev in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Abdominal Muscle Psychology:
It was the topic before this quarter-finals.
How much does Djokovic affect his abdominal muscle injury?
What does that do with Zverev?
And how does the German affect his own wound in the same place?
Mental trainer Steffen Kirchner had told SPIEGEL in advance that it was important for Zverev to stick to himself and not think too much about the consequences of the opponent.
And: "In top-class sport, it's about getting into your opponent's head as quickly and permanently as possible so that he thinks about me and not so much about himself."
First sentence:
Djokovic didn't seem to have succeeded at the beginning of the match.
The Serb tried to play against his tried and tested tactics.
Fast rallies, no long exchanges, high risk.
The idea didn't work, Zverev made an early break and hit the set at 5: 4.
Djokovic had already changed his game idea, he managed the re-break and it went into the tiebreak.
There Zverev got the upper hand.
Djokovic then pulled his plaster off the damaged abdominal muscles.
Welcome to the enemy's mind.
Tennis philosopher Becker:
Anyone who followed the match on Eurosport was guided through the back and forth in the usual way by commentator Matthias Stach and expert Boris Becker.
Lots of anecdotes, good analyzes, a somewhat too uncritical view of the two players who had made the headlines in the past weeks and months - also in negative ways.
When Zverev put an overhead ball just into the corner, Becker said: "There are no pictures in the scoreboard, only points."
That's tennis:
Djokovic fought his way back in the first set.
The rallies got longer.
In previous years, Zverev would probably have lost such a tiebreak.
Disadvantage of Djokovic at the beginning of the second set?
No, such a development does not have to mean anything in top tennis.
Suddenly the world number one was clearly the better player, pulled away to 4-0 and equalized after sets.
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Zverev opponent Novak Djokovic: "The injury actually helped me a bit in the end, the pressure was not so great anymore."
Photo:
WILLIAM WEST / AFP
The court has to be clean:
At the beginning of the third set things went better for Zverev.
The 23-year-old got more and more quick points, the rallies got shorter again.
After an early break, Zverev led 3-1.
And Djokovic?
Was impatient, annoyed.
When he had to wait a little longer before the fifth game because of new balls and a club change from Zverev, he sat on the edge of the court.
Shortly afterwards it broke out of Djokovic: At the start he smashed his racket - and a ball girl had to clean it with a hand brush.
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Cleaning action on the tennis court to remove the remains of Djokovic's racket
Photo:
PAUL CROCK / AFP
Zverev and the serve:
The next turning point was not far away.
Zverev led 4-2.
Until then he hadn't produced a double fault.
In total, Zverev served 21 aces, 64 percent of his first serves came into the field.
But in the middle of the third set his super strength left him, with two double errors he gave up his serve and Djokovic won the set 6: 4.
Like two ailing boxers:
Older tennis observers remember the French Open in 1989. A weakened Chang unsettled experienced Lendl in the round of 16 so much that the outsider won in five sets.
This match is still used to this day when it comes to approaching ailing opponents.
In the Rod Laver Arena, however, both players were no longer physically up-to-date - which, absurdly, made the level rise again.
There were hardly any free points, Zverev and Djokovic tormented each other in long rallies and showed their entire punch repertoire.
The German had another break, at 6: 5 he missed a set ball.
Who knows what would have followed in a fifth sentence?
Djokovic and the serve:
The 33-year-old is more independent of his service on normal days than Zverev is.
Djokovic was the better server that day, hitting 23 aces and bringing 73 percent of his first serves into the field.
"I had to change my game," said Djokovic after the match at Eurosport.
"In the end, the injury actually helped me a bit, the pressure wasn't that great anymore." This quarter-final was decided in the head and not in the gut.
Icon: The mirror
