tennis
“Means the world to me”: Zverev triumphs in Paris
With an almost flawless performance in the final, tennis star Alexander Zverev secured victory at the tournament in Paris. The triumph gives him tailwind for the last big highlight of the season.
After his impressive demonstration of power, Alexander Zverev sank to his knees with a smile and stretched his arms upwards. The German tennis professional won his seventh Masters 1000 tournament with an almost flawless performance and sent a big message of respect to the top competition before the ATP Finals. The 2021 Olympic champion clearly prevailed in the final in Paris against the overwhelmed local hero Ugo Humbert from France 6:2, 6:2.
“Winning this title here in Paris means the world to me,” said Zverev at the award ceremony after apologizing to the French audience with a smile. Zverev destroyed Humbert’s home advantage from the first second with his powerful and highly concentrated game: “Once the audience gets involved, it becomes very difficult.”
The 27-year-old is only the second German tennis player after Boris Becker (1986, 1989, 1992) to win the tournament in the Bercy district of Paris. For Zverev, it was his second tournament victory this year after his triumph at the Masters in Rome. Thanks to the final success, the Hamburg resident (66) is once again leading the ranking for the most season wins on the ATP tour, ahead of the Italian world number one Jannik Sinner (65).
After his semi-final success against the Dane Holger Rune, it was already clear that Zverev would overtake Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the world rankings shortly before the season finale at the ATP Finals in Turin in mid-November and take second place. He is now traveling to the test of strength between the eight best tennis players, which Zverev has already won twice (2018 and 2021), with plenty of tailwind.
The highly concentrated Zverev got off to a dream start in his twelfth Masters final. He was able to use his first break chance to make it 2-1 and also take the following service game from his opponent. Zverev also ensured that the mood in the audience was not particularly strong compared to Humbert’s previous appearances. After just 36 minutes, the first set went to the dominant German.
Humbert tried to break his opponent’s rhythm and refocus himself with a toilet break before the second set. But Zverev took away his first two service games again. After 75 minutes he converted his first match point.
After the ATP Finals, there is still the Davis Cup finals from November 19th in Malaga, Spain, but Germany’s number 1 will not strengthen the DTB team there. He made this “difficult decision” in the interests of better regeneration.
Zverev has been suffering from the effects of pneumonia for a long time; at the Laver Cup in Berlin a month and a half ago he complained of fever and cough. He then decided not to take part in the tournament in Beijing.
“It’s not a question of one or two weeks. I hope that I’ll be back to 100 percent by next year when I arrive in Australia,” said Zverev, referring to the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament the new season in January 2025.
dpa
Source: Stern
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