On Sunday afternoon, local time, on turin's super-fast court, No. 3 seed A. Zverev spent 1 hour and 15 minutes to beat No. 2 seed Daniel Medvedev with two 6-4 to end the 2021 ATP year-end finals.
In the semi-finals and finals with world first Novak Djokovic and second Medvedev, the 24-year-old German has once again won the year-end finals trophy since 2018.
He also became the fourth player to win the title after Ivan Lendl (1982), Stephen Edberg (1989) and Andre Agassi (1990). With this trophy, he also became the most-won men's player of the season with six titles, ahead of Djokovic and Gaspar Rudd in five.
Post-match data showed it was a game that left seed No. 2 speechless.
The German has eight ACEs, a 74% first-shot success rate, an 83% one-shot scoring rate and a 57% second-shot scoring rate, and Medvedev, who has won 10 consecutive games before this game, has 3, 59%, 74% and 54% of these aspects respectively. These gaps prevented him from finding opportunities in the opponent's serve and did not get a break point; in his own serve, he lost twice, 4-6, 4-6 is the final result.
"My feelings are not too good, it is difficult to say, maybe my body is a little tired today, or maybe I am not 100% mentally ready." During the post-match review, Medvedev said he was a bit unhappy in form and did not play the tennis he wanted.
"Yes, it feels like something is missing, and I don't know the exact answer, [this lack makes] the result different." Sasha is a very good player, he broke me twice, if it is not bad in normal times. But when you're in a Masters-level final, on such a fast field, a player like Sasha wins with a great serve. ”
The Russians have previously won five straight against A. Zverev, including the group stage of this final.
But it was these consecutive wins that inspired the Germans, "I won this game, I beat the opponent I lost 5 times in a row, which means I played at the best level." I'm happy that I can take a vacation with this victory. ”
As the earliest player in the "post-95 generation", A. Zverev won the Rome Masters championship in 2017, becoming the first post-90s player to win the men's singles championship in the ATP1000 class, and the world ranking also entered the top 10. In 2018, he won the ATP year-end finals with back-to-back victories over Roger Federer and Djokovic at london's O2 Stadium.
However, he has not been able to make a big breakthrough in the Grand Slam arena, and he was reversed 2-3 by his friend Dominic Tim in 2020, who reached the Grand Slam final for the first time.
But entering the 2021 season, after being plagued by rumors of "domestic violence" off the field for more than a year and becoming a father at the beginning of the year, the Germans on the pitch have suddenly become mature. Andy Roddick said that "watching his race is no longer like a roller coaster ride", and that he himself has more "superstar style" between his words and demeanor.
In Turin, after beating Djokovic in the semi-finals, the two shook hands in front of the net and greeted each other, and he "forcibly" embraced the world for the first few seconds to express comfort and respect. After the final victory over Medvedev, he also praised his opponents' recent achievements as a "forerunner" after the match, especially the major breakthrough in winning the MEN's Singles Title in the US Open in 2021.
"Congratulations to Medvedev, you have gone through an incredible season and you are the leader of our generation. You beat 5 times in a row and won a Grand Slam title. We've known each other for a long time and hopefully we can be in more finals together in the future. ”
Today, as the men's singles gold medalist for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, A. Zverev has 19 singles titles, including five Masters titles and two ATP year-end finals titles. His next target is a Grand Slam title, and it's a Grand Slam in 2022.
"I'm happy with how I've performed this season, it's been a very, really good year. As you can see, I won all the races except grand slams. It's the only thing I'm missing and I'll do everything I can to change that next season. I'm already very much looking forward to 2022 because I know I still have a lot to do, to prove, to improve. ”
From Acapulco to Madrid, from Tokyo to Cincinnati, from Vienna to Turin, 24-year-old A. Zverev planted his winning flag across Central and North America and the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, North America and Europe in the 2021 season.
Will the next thing he conquers will be Oceania?