Alexander Zverev in the final, Novak Djokovic gives up

Doch dann hatte sein Gegner ihm am Netz zu verstehen gegeben, dass er das Match nicht zu Ende spielen würde. Durch die verletzungsbedingte Aufgabe spielt Zverev nun am Sonntag gegen den italienischen Weltranglistenersten und Titelverteidiger Jannik Sinner oder den US-Amerikaner Ben Shelton um seinen lange ersehnten ersten Grand-Slam-Titel.

„Ich dachte eigentlich, dass das ein Satz auf ziemlich hohem Niveau war“, bekannte Zverev, der sich in diesem am Ende im Tiebreak mit 7:5 knapp durchgesetzt hatte, wenig später im Siegerinterview auf dem Court. „Aber wenn man Probleme hat, dann werden die womöglich immer schlimmer, je länger das Match dauert.“ Man habe sich einige „lange und physische“ Ballwechsel geliefert. Doch erst im Tiebreak habe er dann gemerkt, dass Djokovic körperlich womöglich nicht mehr ganz auf der Höhe sei.

Nun sei er „auf der einen Seite überglücklich“, zum dritten Mal in seiner Karriere im Finale eines Grand-Slam-Turniers zu stehen. Seine bisherigen Endspiele bei den US Open 2020 und den French Open im Vorjahr hatte er beide verloren. „Vielleicht ist es an der Zeit, dass ich mal ein bisschen Glück in einem Finale habe“, sagte Zverev. „Auf der anderen Seite: Es gibt niemanden, den ich auf der Tennistour mehr respektiere als Novak. Er ist einer meiner besten Freunde auf der Tour, wann immer ich Probleme hatte, konnte ich mich an ihn wenden.“ In Schanghai habe er im vergangenen Jahr stundenlang mit Djokovic geredet, weil er nach einer schmerzhaften Niederlage bei den US Open mental in ein Loch gefallen sei. „Ich spüre nichts als Respekt für Novak“, sagte Zverev.

A little later, Djokovic commented on his injury in more detail. The Serb said he “didn’t hit a ball anymore” after the quarter-final win against Carlos Alcaraz: “I did everything I could to manage the torn muscle. Medication and physio work helped, but towards the end of the first set I started to feel more and more pain. It was too much for me.”

So it was a somewhat anticlimactic end to a match that had promised high tension until the last rally. “Until the semifinals it’s a tennis tournament, from then on it’s a chess game,” Boris Becker recently said in his new podcast together with former professional player Andrea Petkovic. And both players had already made their first moves in the past few days. Djokovic, who had already had his thigh treated in his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz, only to play brilliantly afterwards, made himself rare. The rumors about his health continued to simmer on a low flame. Zverev, on the other hand, trained in public, sought contact with the fans and appeared extremely self-confident on the outside. “Everyone knows what I’m chasing,” he said before the match. “And I know that I have the quality to do it.”

At first it actually looked like it might take a little longer that day. The two ultimately needed 82 minutes for the first set. Zverev seemed a bit more stable and had slight advantages overall. But Djokovic still made the points he had to make. To do this, he needed his best tennis in all important moments. And when he made a mistake for the first time, on Zverev’s first set point in the previously balanced tiebreak, and hit a supposedly easy forehand volley into the net, it meant losing the first round – a few seconds later the match was over.

And so Zverev only had his strongest performance of the day after he had already won. Even before he answered the first question in the winner’s interview, he addressed the fans, especially the not exactly small number of those who booed Djokovic loudly as he left the court. “First of all,” Zverev said, “please, people, don’t boo a player who has to give up. We know that everyone here has paid a lot of money for tickets and would like to see a thrilling five-set match. But you have to understand: Novak Djokovic is someone who has given this sport absolutely everything in his life over the past 20 years.”

Djokovic won the tournament with an abdominal muscle strain and a thigh strain. “If he can’t finish a tennis match, then he can’t finish a tennis match. So please: be respectful. Give Novak some love.”