Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers and for the second time this week when they battle for the Nitto ATP Finals title on Sunday evening.
Only at this prestigious event can one head-to-head matchup take place twice, and that will be the case after Djokovic hammered Zverev 6-4, 6-1 during Group A round-robin action on Tuesday. The Serb also steamrolled 6-2, 6-1 at the Shanghai Masters this fall, so the alarm bells are ringing loud and clear for Zverev even though he once upset Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 in last season’s Rome final.
As if those scorelines are not daunting enough, Djokovic’s form also makes him an overwhelming favorite in this one. The top seed has improved to 35-2 in his last 37 matches with straight-set victories in London over Zverev, John Isner, Marin Cilic, and Kevin Anderson. Cilic at least managed to force one tiebreaker, but Anderson did not come close to doing that in the semifinals on Saturday night, when Djokovic cruised 6-2, 6-2.
The third time at the O2 Arena has been the charm so far for Zverev, who did not advance out of round-robin competition in his two previous appearances. Despite his setback against Djokovic, the 21-year-old German beat Cilic 7-6(5), 7-6(1) and Isner 7-6(5), 6-3 to set up a semifinal showdown against Roger Federer. With his best performance of the week, Zverev ousted the Swiss 7-5, 7-6(5) to reach his sixth final of the 2018 campaign.
“I’m expecting quite a different matchup for us tomorrow than what it was in the group stage,” Djokovic assured, “even though the win in the group stage against him few days ago can definitely serve as (a) kind of mental advantage a little bit coming into tomorrow’s match, of course. The experience of playing so many matches at this level….”
“Novak right now is the best player in the world,” Zverev said. “It’s very tough to beat him; he’s barely lost a match in the last six months. He’s playing amazing tennis. You have to play your best game to even have a chance; I hope I’ll be able to do that.”
Zverev’s best–and only–chance is to serve incredibly well and play his way into tiebreakers, where he is 3-0 so far during this tournament. As for the underdog’s hopes in the return game, well, Djokovic has not been broken all week. The world No. 1 dropped six total service points against Isner, five against Cilic, 14 against Zverev, and seven against Anderson. He is winning a ridiculous 82.9 percent of his service points through four matches, including 86.7 percent against the three opponents other than Zverev.
All signs point to the 2018 season concluding in appropriate fashion: with the best player on tour–by far–since the start of Wimbledon coasting again in straight sets.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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WWW?
AZ has the proverbial 2 chances…
Joker showing that this year is HIS year….still should be an entertaining match up….Joker in 2.
Novak in 2
another inevitable tennis lesson from Nole
well Djoker did lose the Paris final to another guy with a Russian name. You never know in a two horse race right?
question for the tennis fans here: do you think Zverev could win a major in the near future, next year for example?
I think Khachanov will win a slam before Sasha. Sasha just couldn’t win three straight sets against tough opponents and had to let the match dragged on for four or five sets, that’s not going to help him win slam(s). I mean, how many five setters he had played in 2018 at the slams? Six out of fourteen matches played at the slams had gone to five sets, that’s about 43% of his slam matches! No wonder he’s complaining about the demand of the season (when he’s not helping himself by involving in so many Long matches!).
Unless Sasha hits without missing and doing that consistently throughout the whole match, he’s not going to beat Djoko. He doesn’t play with varieties the way Khachanov played at Paris, or Tsitsipas played at Toronto, so he has to play his own way without wavering to have a chance.
I don’t think that Djoko can be defeated in this court,given his current form out there. Zverev will have to put up the best performance of his career in order to have a shot at the title,that’s for sure.
Hopefully Djoko can crown his comeback to the top,it would be a fitting ending for this season.
Outside Big Four, I still think Zverev under Lendl has the best chance of anyone to win a slam next year.
He’s very solid when confident enough to play consistently aggressive.
Big Four? Murray is out I must say, Delpo when healthy has > chances than Sasha at the slams. Unless Sasha can avoid the big three, I think it’s unlikely he’s going to win a slam next year.
Agreed. More likely Delpo or Stan if they find form and health will win. Zverev looks better in BO3 than BO5…it’s not even as if he is losing to the top players at slams..He struggles against a large range of players. When Andy was his age he was consistently making the late stages of slams and falling to fedal…Zverev has made one quarter final!Andy had a game with way more variety plus very good hands.
Big Four because Murray has a better **potential chance** to find health and form by the time Wimby and USO come around than Zverev.
Zverev needs confidence and belief and he could win anytime. That’s within his control.
I don’t see Delpo being healthy to win a slam as a greater probability than Zverev or Murray. Ditto Wawrinka.
So yeah not great probability but better than the rest imo.
Don’t think Murray could do that next year; likewise for Stan. A healthy Delpo has far better chances than the coming back from long injury layoff Murray and Stan imo; and also better than Sasha when at a slam.
Delpo was unfortunate to run into Rafa so often at the slams, and even when Rafa retired from the match, he still needed to face Djoko, who had his number all along!
Unless he tries a completely new game plan Zverev will do well to even get a set.
Yes, Sasha tries something different today, more willing to move to the net and he wins the first set, well done. He’s serving really well too, hope he can keep this up.
OMG!! What is happening! Is Sascha going to take down Fed and Nole b2b. When was the last it happened :O
Djoko routinely exceeding 25 seconds between points. Several over 30.
Anyone notice how the shot clock disappeared ever since Rafa was injured?
Djoko routinely exceeding 25 seconds between points. Several over 30.
Anyone notice how the shot cl0ck disappeared ever since Rafa was injured?
Notice the increase in UEs from Sascha with the lead. Plus he plays less aggressively.
As I said, it’s mental strength he’s lacking
That’s within his control and Lendl will help as he did with Murray.
WTf! What was Nole upto today. So so flat! Rafa makes two WTF finals and has to deal with Rafa and Roger in the final playing lights out. And Sascha takes out both of them to win a title that Rafa has not had in his entire career
vmk1,
But Sascha is the fourth player to defeat Fed & Djoko in the SF and final of the same tournament, after these guys:
Andy Murray (2012 Olympics)
Rafael Nadal (2008 Roland Garros, 2008 Hamburg, 2007 Roland Garros)
David Nalbandian (2007 Madrid)
https://twitter.com/stu_fraser/status/1064236256052289536
Well done Sascha for believing. A big step forward.
Sign of bigger things to come.
Awesome Zverev!
Wow Sasha! Unbelievable, you’ve beaten the almost invincible Djoko!! Extremely impressive!
The biggest tournament win for him so far, biggest pay check! So Fed was right, he said that the way Sasha was playing, he could beat Djoko. Fed is definitely better than us when it comes to gauging a player’s level.
Djoko now has lost to three Next Gen players in a row – Tsitsipas, Khachanov and Sasha since his Wimbledon win while the old timers couldn’t beat him; so the next gen players have arrived!
👍 to Sascha for not letting the points gap between #2 and #1 in the ATP rankings become wider!