US Open semifinals: Zverev fails on the wall named Djokovic

Alexander Zverev ran, fought and hit, and at some moments it looked like he could climb the wall called Novak Djokovic.

But after three and a half hours and five eventful sets it was over (6: 4, 2: 6, 4: 6, 6: 4, 2: 6).

Six weeks after his defeat against Zverev at the Olympic Games, the Serb could not be chased from his dream this time, and now only one victory is missing, the victory for eternity.

On Sunday in the final of the US Open, Djokovic will not only play for the 21st Grand Slam title of his career, for the fourth in New York, but above all for the fourth this year.

And only one person now stands between him and an act that no man has succeeded in for more than half a century: the Russian Daniil Medvedev. 

Two wide-awake opponents

And Alexander Zverev?

For six weeks, the Olympic champion hovered a few centimeters above the ground, those weeks after his victories in Tokyo, first in the semifinals against Djokovic and the day after in the game for the gold medal.

At the next tournament he won the title, and when he landed in New York City just under three weeks ago he was considered one of the two challengers to the favorite;

the other was Daniil Medvedev from the start.

Yes, Tokyo - Djokovic admitted how hard the defeat had hit him, and it wasn't difficult to see that he didn't want to let the same man steal his dream of the Grand Slam after the Olympic medal.

He sprinted into the game, highly concentrated on serve, surprisingly offensively with early trips to the network.

While the sun was sinking behind the Manhattan skyline over on the other side of the East River, Djokovic was wide awake, but so was Zverev.

He took the chance after the Serb conceded a break with a double mistake at the score of 4: 4, and Zverev made it clear with the first sentence with his own serve.

Sometimes a trace of uncertainty

The loss of the first set - almost a familiar picture with Djokovic these days, last seen when he won the quarter-finals against the Italian Matteo Berrettini. But Zverev failed to take advantage; He conceded a break in the first service game of the second set, later another, and after not much more than half an hour the lead was gone - 1: 1 in sets. And suddenly he landed back on earth. After all the victories recently, there was a trace of uncertainty on his face this time, but he made the most spectacular point of the game after a gigantic rally with 53 strokes in a set ball for Djokovic.

When the next rally began, the hearts of both bodies were still pumping after the effort, but Djokovic was the first to regain control and won this groundbreaking set.

Perhaps it was this third set against an opponent who only played average for his circumstances in this phase, in which Zverev did not accelerate energetically enough.

When he did it again on the fourth, Djokovic looked rather tired;

he didn't move as smoothly as usual, made mistakes, and the audience in the stands didn't really know what to think of all this.

Was the favorite, the man who wants to win the Grand Slam, tired?

That means: This is my territory

For the first time Zverev landed in a game with the number one in the fifth set, and that was the moment when you remembered what Novak Djokovic had said two days before the game: “It's best of five.

It's Grand Slam Tennis. ”And that should mean: This is my territory.

And as soon as he took the first steps in this fifth movement, the slight weakness of the half hour before could no longer be seen.

Djokovic grabbed Zverev's first service game with a rally of similar sparkling intensity and class as the one with the 53 strokes, after which he was unstoppable.

Zverev struggled, but he had to feel that nothing more could be done.

After a good three and a half hours, the challenger's last ball landed in the net, and Djokovic sent a scream into the evening sky.

Zverev wishes all the best for the final

The people rose in the stands. One of them was the slim, 83-year-old man who had seen Daniil Medvedev's relatively easy win in the first semi-final of the day against Felix Auger Aliassime from Canada (6: 4, 7: 5, 6: 2) - Rod Laver . The legendary Australian was the last man to win the Grand Slam in 1969 and he will present the trophy on Sunday. To Medvedev, who wants to reach for the title in one of the big four tournaments in the third final of his career and who landed comparatively unobserved with a series of sovereign victories in this final.

Or to Novak Djokovic, who never made a secret of how much the historic act of the Grand Slam would mean to him.

Zverev gave the Serb all the best wishes for the final when he hugged the net.

“I told him to win on Sunday.

I'm also a sports fan, and what we're going to experience on Sunday is history. "

The candidate himself would prefer not to talk about it anymore, but because he couldn't get past it this time either, he made a promise.

He'll put everything into this final game - soul, body and head.

“I'll play like it is the last match of my career.” It will certainly not be the last, but if everything goes as he imagines it will be the greatest.