Olympics: Germany’s Alexander Zverev Wins Gold At Tennis Event
Tennis world number five Alexander Zverev won the biggest title of his career when he crushed Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-1 on Sunday to win the men’s singles Gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan.
Zverev, who secured a rare win against world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, was in stunning form as he demolished Khachanov in 79 minutes to become the first German man to win a singles Olympic Gold medal.
The 24-year-old German was flawless throughout the match and grabbed an early break to cruise to a 3-1 lead in the first set.
There were no signs of any nerves as he broke Khachanov again and bagged the set when his opponent sent an easy volley wide on the German’s second set point.
Zverev broke the Russian again in the second game of the second set as he remained in complete control, thundering backhand winners past his opponent who could only look on as he settled for silver.
Zverev dropped to his knees on the court at the end as he celebrated the biggest moment of his career.
Zverev became only the second German to win Olympic singles gold, matching Steffi Graff’s achievement at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Khachanov’s silver adds another medal to the ROC tally, while bronze has gone to Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta, who capped a miserable few days for Djokovic by winning the third-placed game on Saturday.
Zverev has been one of the few players trying to break the dominance of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the grand slams. However, his victory at the Olympics will inspire him to further pursue his goal of breaking the dominate of the ‘Big three.
Khachanov was competing in Tokyo as a representative of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) because the country was stripped of its flag and anthem for doping offences.
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.
