Alexander Zverev ends Novak Djokovic’s chance for the Golden Slam

Alexander Zverev (Steven Pisano, Wikimedia Commons)

Alexander Zverev of Germany has ended Novak Djokovic’s chance of winning the Golden Slam in tennis. On Friday, Zverev, the number four seed at the Olympic Games, defeated Djokovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.

In a remarkable tennis match that saw two completely different strings of momentum, Djokovic won nine of the first 12 games, and then Zverev won 10 of the last 11 games.

Momentum seemed to shift in the second set when Zverev got down on himself. He first smashed a racket, and then hammered the tennis ball into the stands. After that expression of self-frustration, it was the 24-year-old from Hamburg who took complete control.

Ironically, it was a German who ended Djokovic’s quest for the Golden Slam. That is because the only player to complete the golden slam in singles tennis was German Steffi Graf in 1988. So far in 2021, Djokovic has won the Australian Open over Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the final, the French Open over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the final, and the Wimbledon final over Matteo Berrettini of Italy.

Now Djokovic will try to do something he did not accomplish in 2020 and that is to win the United States Open. A year ago, Djokovic lost to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-5 in the first set of the fourth round. The reason why the match was not completed was because Djokovic hammered a tennis ball toward the backstop in frustration for being broken, and ended up hitting a linesperson in the throat. As a result, Djokovic was disqualified. Now in an ironic twist, it is Carreno Busta, who will play Djokovic in the Olympic bronze medal match in Tokyo. Carreno Busta lost to Karen Khachanov of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, in the other Olympic semi.

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