With Alexander Zverev serving for the U.S. Open championship at 5-2, 40-15 in the fourth set, Ben Shelton’s forehand return sailed long.
The match was over. The tournament was over. Zverev had his second Grand Slam title.
And everyone in Arthur Ashe Stadium except Alexander Zverev knew it. The top-seeded German thought he had been serving at 4-1 instead of 5-2, so he reacted by calmly hitting ball back to the other side of the net and got ready to return Shelton’s ensuing game. It was too loud in the arena for him to gear the chair umpire’s “game, set, match, Zverev” call. Only after several seconds did he finally hear his team screaming at him that it was all over.
And it was. Zverev defeated Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 for his first U.S. Open trophy, thus denying the host nation’s hope for its first slam winner since Andy Roddick 23 years ago in New York.
“I thought it was 5-1,” Zverev said during an interview with Sky Sports. “I knew that I had broken twice, but I thought he only held once. I thought, ‘It’s 5-1, okay. I’m going to have a relaxed service game here and then get tight on the next one.’ Tennis teachers always tell you, ‘just play each point; forget about the score.’ Well, it that moment I forgot about the score and it helped me.”
“It helped me in a way, because I didn’t really get nervous serving out the match,” he added during his post-match press conference. “Yeah. I just miscounted the score, I guess.”
But there’s no miscounting this. After having never won a major title in his career, Zverev — also the French Open champion — has won two of the last three Grand Slams.
lol
Yes it was funny 😂
🤣💚
Very good flow state!
Very cute. In the zone!💫
Much more fun than minutes of chest-thumping.
The face said: “Oh! Really?” and then it was just happy, and amused at the delayed realisation like the rest of us.