LET THE “ZVEREV-OLUTION” BEGIN: While a musical that celebrates Alexander Hamilton is all the rage on Broadway, the ATP’s teen du jour – Alexander Zverev – may soon be all the rage of the tour.
The man-child is 6’6″ but moves like the wind. His serve is a blur – 135 mph of pain. His second serve doesn’t allow you to breathe. Almost in unison, an entire stadium in the desert seemed to be asking, “Is tomorrow’s star now before us ?”
Young, raw talent somehow invigorates the most jaded of souls.
Zverev is of Russian origin, but grew up in Germany and now trains in Florida. His strokes have firepower and he’s got fire in his belly.
In the second-biggest tennis arena in the world, he was battling stroke for stroke against the mighty Rafa. Never mind that the Spaniard has won 14 Slams – he was looking oddly ordinary. The kid – baby face still in place – had the master on a string, running the proud man corner-to-corner. His backhand punished Rafa’s long-celebrated forehand. He saved a set point to win the first set tiebreak 11-9.
Astonishing! The boy’s never been to an ATP final. He’s only ranked No. 58. But here at the BNPPO, he’s whipped No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov and No. 16 Gilles Simon.
The crowd’s been fed with great action, but I’m starving. So I dash to the player cafeteria, which is empty, except for French tennis guru Patrick Mouratoglou.
“That Zverev is a wonder,” I gush. “Yeah,” replies Serena’s coach. “But Nadal will win the second set. Zverev flattened badly against Dimitrov.”
But wait, I thought, Rafa has a history of falling to flashy, over-achieving power-meisters like Lukas Rosol and Dustin Brown. Nonetheless, as if on cue, Zverev’s focus faltered and Rafa managed to get his armada back afloat, streaking to a tidy 6-0 second-set win.
Then, in the third set, the kid counterattacked with fury. Russia gave us the most significant revolution of the 20th century. Now, one wonders, in the 21st century, will the boy with those Russian roots give us a game changing “Zverev-olution”?
But, midway through the final set, with a breakpoint in hand, out of nowhere, as the crowd howled, the kid was issued a ridiculous time violation warning.
Conventional wisdom shouted, “Hey boy, just shake it off!” Match managers would insist, “Keep your mind on the game, don’t get distracted. If you lose this next point, Rafa will draw even, he’ll be back on serve.” But, as boos rained down from the upper tier, the teen bristled and challenged the ump.
So what. Zverev promptly returned to the generation gap contest and won three stunning points in a row. He offered three defiant fist pumps and soon went up 5-2.
“Wow, wow, and wow!” said an off-duty official.
Now the match would be his. The once-imposing Nadal just doesn’t win monster matches these days. Then again, Zverev had lost a pair of key matches in three weeks. Plus, it’s one thing to reach the finish line and quite another to cross it – especially against one of the top players of all time. Still, the boy they call Sasha seemed set to sashay to a mind-boggling win that would change the landscape.
At match point he had a sitter volley before him. But the boy with the Huck Finn hair couldn’t finish. “On match point,” he later said, “I sucked, so that was it. I missed probably the easiest shot I had the whole match… I mistimed it completely.” Zverev netted the volley and his head imploded. Nadal, like a comet, then raced to a memorable 6-7 (8), 6-0, 7-5 win.
The German, who obviously is in a learning mode, was left to wrestle with “I coulda, I shoulda, I woulda” questions. “In the last three weeks,” he said, “I lost 7-5 in the third to Berdych; 6-4 in the fifth to Berdych; and 7-5 in the third with match point to Nadal. So I know how tough losses feel.”
Still, twice in two days, Rafa said that the German, with his 125 mph second serve, will probably become No. 1.
Zverev was modest, saying, “it’s a big honor to hear…that from Rafa…[but] we’ll see what I can accomplish.”
On this day Alexander – who probably will be great – faltered. But someday, many here insist, the “Zverev-olution” will come.
WHAT MARIA AND MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S DAUGHTER HAVE IN COMMON: Sharapova’s Shakesperean, sad, and more-than-surreal fall still astounds. It was said that her taking meldonium was perhaps the costliest mistake in sports history. Even though she’s worth a Sugarpova-sweet $195 million, her drug dust-up will cost much. But will it be as painful as her latest humiliation? The UN suspended her as a Goodwill Ambassador. She was once paid a symbolic $1 salary to be an ambassador. At the time she said it was one of her “proudest contracts ever.” The daughter of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was also stripped of her UN Ambassadorship.
BRAINLESS BATTLE: After losing to David Goffin in a match that had 13 breaks of serve and a terribly flubbed overhead at crunch time, Stan Wawrinka said, “It was a match without brains.”
MAKES SENSE TO US: BNPPO chief Raymond Moore told writer Carole Bouchard that he hoped the tournament would get a new status as a “Super Masters” event so that it could provide more prize money and points.
AMERICAN SUNSET: With John Isner’s three-set loss to No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori, there are no more American men left in the tourney. Meanwhile, Serena dismissed Simona Halep and is into the semis, which she reached last year.
MURRAY COULD BECOME NO. 1: A Murray could become No. 1. No it’s not No. 2 Andy Murray, it’s his brother Jamie. If the elder Murray – who plays with Brazilian Bruno Soares – wins his next match, he will become No. 1 in doubles. Had Simona Halep beaten Serena, she would have passed Angelique Kerber to become No. 2 in the world. Instead Agnie Radwanska will get that slot.
FAMILY BRANDING: There are now Nike T-Shirts that feature Federer’s four kids.
Nadal defeated the 18-year-old German 6-7(8), 6-0, 7-5. / AFP / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
