Lying happily on a tent, wearing a colorful swimsuit and looking like he’s trying to decipher a Sudoku, pen in hand instead of a racket, Novak Djokovic is enjoying these days a pleasant and well-deserved stay in the Maldives with his family without, It seems, being too aware of what may happen on the slopes. Once he achieved the Olympic gold in Paris, the feat was stratospheric, it gives the impression that the 37-year-old Serbian has everything else to spare and his statements are in that sense. “To be honest, Turin is no longer a goal for me; I am no longer chasing the ATP Finals [Copa de Maestros] nor the ranking. As far as I’m concerned, I’m done with those tournaments in my career. My main priorities are playing for the national team and the Grand Slams; everything else is less important,” he noted in mid-September, without yet having a clear roadmap before the end of the course.
Since then, Djokovic has only been seen briefly in the Davis Cup, with the aim of returning his country to the group of the best; in Shanghai, where he defeated Jannik Sinner in the final, without success; and later in Riyadh, a millionaire meeting point and the scene of his last confrontation with Rafael Nadal. From there, beach, rest and silence. “We don’t know if he is going to Turin, but we do know that the number nine of the Race [carrera anual que decide los ocho maestros] “He won’t want me to do it,” says Jim Courier on Tennis Channel, taking into account that now all eyes are waiting for the final maneuver that the player from Belgrade can make, since he currently occupies one of the direct places for the Masters and that Some of the candidates (Casper Rudd, Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov) will press their options in the Metz tournament, knowing that a resignation from Nole could also give them a pass.
While waiting for the list of participants to be resolved, with five classified (Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz) and three tickets in the air, Zverev shows off fangs in Paris-Bercy, witnessing a monologue and the final coronation of the German at the local Ugo Humbert: double 6-2, in 1h 14m. “Yes, I have done quite well. But I knew that I had to do it this way to win today because he plays very well here and had the public in his favor,” conceded the champion, firm and intelligent. Knowing that the Frenchman was suffering considerable physical and emotional wear, having previously had to surrender Alcaraz and Karen Khachanov in two rough and attempted fights, in the case of the latter, he led the final duel towards a one-way path: debate from the bottom and wait for the precipitation and error of the other; 23 Humbert committed, for Zverev’s seven, who only gave up a couple of points with the first serve as well.
Inclined in the 2020 final by Medvedev, the one from Hamburg did not fail this time and lifted his second trophy of the season, after the one in Rome, and which in turn represents his seventh Masters 1000. With this figure he equals Michael Chang and He is placed behind the Austrian Thomas Muster (8). There are now 23 titles and this confirms the progressive maturity that the German is reaching, the first tennis player of his nationality to triumph at Bercy since Boris Becker did so in 1992. He knew Boom-Boom a lot about aggressiveness, a pending issue for his compatriot. “He plays too passive, often defensively, especially in decisive moments. It’s great to defend like this, but you have to look for something else, take a step forward; If he does, I am sure he will be able to achieve great things,” Roger Federer recommended last month, emphasizing that Zverev lacks one last point of confidence and daring to succeed in major tournaments.
The fact is that, regardless of the achievements, Zverez has completed a remarkable season and has once again displayed remarkable consistency, progressing to the final stages of the main events and already becoming, thanks to the victory against Humbert, the tennis player who has the most victories in this exercise (66) ahead of number one, Sinner (65). The success in Bercy also brings him the rise to second place on the world list to the detriment of Alcaraz, now in third place, 505 points behind the German. Swords held high, then, starting next Sunday in Turin, where the eight best will converge and Zverev will try to give another twist to get closer to the current dimension of the Italian and the Murcian. “They are doing some things better than me, so I want to improve. They are very aggressive, and I think that in that aspect I can improve and I work with that objective. If you stand still, you go back. And Novak, for example, has not stopped evolving in the last 15 or 20 years,” he explains.
On the other side of the net, this Sunday Humbert lamented and French tennis did so hand in hand. Since 2008, when Jo-Wilfred Tsonga won, the stands have not celebrated a summit of one of their own in Bercy. Since 2014, including Tsonga, no French representative has won a Masters 1000.
MARTÍNEZ REPLACES CARREÑO FOR THE FINAL PHASE OF THE DAVIS
A. C.
Pedro Martínez will replace Pablo Carreño in the call of the Spanish Davis Cup team for the final phase that will be held from the 19th to the 24th of this month at the Martín Carpena in Malaga, as announced this Sunday by the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET). . The physical problems that the Asturian suffers in his right ankle have forced the captain, David Ferrer, to redefine the list of players, which finally looks like this: Carlos Alcaraz, Martínez, Roberto Bautista, Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers.
Martínez, 27, is currently ranked 41st, only below Alcaraz, and already participated in the group stage held in mid-September at La Fonteta in Valencia. He then lost in the singles match against the Australian Alexei Popyrin, but made up for it with a victory in the doubles with Granollers. Their total balance in the team competition is three wins and three losses.
Spain will debut on Tuesday the 19th, at 5:00 p.m., and if it manages to beat the Netherlands, it would reach the semifinals on Friday the 22nd, against Germany or Canada (5:00 p.m.). On the other side of the table, Italy-Argentina and the United States-Australia face each other in the quarterfinals. The final will be on Sunday the 24th, at 4:00 p.m.
