Daniil Medvedev didn’t lose the ATP Finals, the world No. 2’s serve may not have been on fire at the Pala Alpi tour on Sunday, but he was far from rolling over.
Alexander Zverev, with a Tour leading 59 victories, took the title match away from the Russian, denying him the opportunity to work his strengths. Zverev played down the-centre and restricted his opponent’s use of angles, confining the 25-year-old’s ground game that sizzles in landing open spaces.
The 24-year-old, ranked No.3 and who knocked out world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, followed that up with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Medvedev, in which he ended a five-match losing streak and levelled the head-to-head record at 6-6.
If the Nitto ATP Finals demonstrated anything it was that the ATP’s next generation was ready to call time on the dominance of the 20-time major winners – Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Zverev, who captured two ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Madrid and Cincinnati and won the Tokyo Olympic Games singles gold medal, besides triumphing in Acapulco and Vienna, has now won 32 of his last 36 matches since Wimbledon.
The German, one of the first players of his generation to make a mark on the professional stage, is looking at the new season, hoping to set a record straight.
“Why not, right?” he answered the question with a question, when asked if he was closer than ever to winning a Grand Slam title. “I kind of have succeeded on every single level and there’s one thing missing. I hope I can do that next year.”
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who withdrew from the Nitto ATP Finals with an arm injury, along with Austrian Dominic Thiem who will return to the sport in 2022 hoping that his long injured right wrist has repaired sufficiently – along with Medvedev and Zverev, are the players to beat.
Medvedev said his generation of players was on course.
“My coach was laughing and telling me that when there was (Bjorn) Borg and (John) McEnroe, when they were close to finishing their careers everybody was like, ‘tennis is over’, we won’t ever have any great players, it’s finished,” Medvedev said. “We did have some, (Pete) Sampras, (Andre) Agassi, they were at the top. Sampras retired, then again, tennis is over.”
“Then we had Novak, Roger and Rafa. If you asked just before they came, everybody would say, well, tennis will not be interesting anymore,” he said. “Tennis is a great sport, so I don’t see why our generation would miss out on something.”
Medvedev added, “Maybe we won’t win 20 Grand Slams, but nobody did that before Roger, Rafa and Novak. So, they were also worse than them, if we can say like this. It’s definitely not going to be a shame.”
“I can only talk for myself,” the Russian said. “I will try to do my best, try to win more titles, try to be in the finals of big tournaments.”
Alexander Zverev, with a Tour leading 59 victories, took the title match away from the Russian, denying him the opportunity to work his strengths. Zverev played down the-centre and restricted his opponent’s use of angles, confining the 25-year-old’s ground game that sizzles in landing open spaces.
The 24-year-old, ranked No.3 and who knocked out world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, followed that up with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Medvedev, in which he ended a five-match losing streak and levelled the head-to-head record at 6-6.
If the Nitto ATP Finals demonstrated anything it was that the ATP’s next generation was ready to call time on the dominance of the 20-time major winners – Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Zverev, who captured two ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Madrid and Cincinnati and won the Tokyo Olympic Games singles gold medal, besides triumphing in Acapulco and Vienna, has now won 32 of his last 36 matches since Wimbledon.
The German, one of the first players of his generation to make a mark on the professional stage, is looking at the new season, hoping to set a record straight.
“Why not, right?” he answered the question with a question, when asked if he was closer than ever to winning a Grand Slam title. “I kind of have succeeded on every single level and there’s one thing missing. I hope I can do that next year.”
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who withdrew from the Nitto ATP Finals with an arm injury, along with Austrian Dominic Thiem who will return to the sport in 2022 hoping that his long injured right wrist has repaired sufficiently – along with Medvedev and Zverev, are the players to beat.
Medvedev said his generation of players was on course.
“My coach was laughing and telling me that when there was (Bjorn) Borg and (John) McEnroe, when they were close to finishing their careers everybody was like, ‘tennis is over’, we won’t ever have any great players, it’s finished,” Medvedev said. “We did have some, (Pete) Sampras, (Andre) Agassi, they were at the top. Sampras retired, then again, tennis is over.”
“Then we had Novak, Roger and Rafa. If you asked just before they came, everybody would say, well, tennis will not be interesting anymore,” he said. “Tennis is a great sport, so I don’t see why our generation would miss out on something.”
Medvedev added, “Maybe we won’t win 20 Grand Slams, but nobody did that before Roger, Rafa and Novak. So, they were also worse than them, if we can say like this. It’s definitely not going to be a shame.”
“I can only talk for myself,” the Russian said. “I will try to do my best, try to win more titles, try to be in the finals of big tournaments.”
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