SASCHA ZVEREV DOES THE FEDERER | DJOKOVIC DOUBLE TO COMPLETE AMAZING RUN TO NITTO ATP FINALS TITLE

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2018

SASCHA ZVEREV DOES THE FEDERER | DJOKOVIC DOUBLE TO COMPLETE AMAZING RUN TO NITTO ATP FINALS TITLE

epa07175862 Germany's Alexander Zverev celebrates with his trophy after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic in their final match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 18 November 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER |

Germany’s Alexander Zverev celebrates with his trophy after beating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in their final match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 18 November 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

By Ricky Dimon

Alexander Zverev wrapped up his 2018 season with the most prestigious title of his career, and he did it the hard way.

Zverev’s weekend featured back-to-back stunners against Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, with the latter result allowing him to lift the Nitto ATP Finals trophy on Sunday evening. The destined-for-stardom German shocked a seemingly unbeatable Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 20 minutes.

“Obviously this is the biggest title of my career so far,” Zverev assured.

And he’s right. The 21-year-old has already won three Maters 1000 titles, but he has never done much at slam–so this is as big as it gets for him right now.

“This trophy means a lot–everything–to all the players,” Zverev added. “You only have so many chances of winning it. You play against the best players only. How I played today, how I won it, for me it’s just amazing.”

Zverev was nothing short of amazing throughout the opening set, during which he served at 88 percent, blasted seven aces without double-faulting, and surrendered a mere four points in five service games against arguably the best returner in our sport. One break at 4-4 was enough for Zverev, who began the 5-4 game with three consecutive aces and served it out in routine fashion.

Both men’s levels took a bit of a dive in the second, as an uncharacteristically erratic Djokovic saw his error count grow. Zverev briefly cooled off probably because he started to see the finish line. After breaking Djokovic for a 1-0 lead in the second, the third seed donated serve from out of nowhere with two double-faults and a wild backhand miss. But after breaking Djokovic again for 2-1, Zverev was not about to let another lead slip away.

He held his next three service games easily en route to a 5-3 advantage and wrapped things up in style with his fourth break of the night. Zverev capitalized on his second championship point with an incredible backhand pass.

“Obviously it’s quite astonishing, winning this title, beating two such players back-to-back–Roger and Novak in (the) semifinals and finals,” the world No. 5 reflected. “(It) means so much. I’m incredibly happy and incredibly proud of this moment right now.”

“I’m really happy for him,” Djokovic assured. “Obviously it’s not great to lose a tennis match, especially in the finals of a big tournament. (I was) quite disappointed with my game. But I’m happy that he won the big title because we have a really good and friendly relationship. We reside in the same place; we train (together) a lot; we see each other a lot.

“Obviously you could see how much it means to him. He deserved it.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @TennGrand.