“Run a Lot More and Suffer”: Alexander Zverev on Facing Novak Djokovic at ATP Finals 2021

The maiden outing of the year-end ATP championships in Turin has been a different ride so far with players like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini announcing their withdrawals owing to injuries. Playing in-front of his home crowd against Alexander Zverev, Berrettini suffered an abdominal injury.

Even after receiving the treatment, the Italian announced that he couldn’t continue playing the match. As a result, Zverev notched up his first victory in Turin. Next up for the German was Daniil Medvedev, a player who defeated him multiple times this season.

Against the Russian, Zverev put up a tough fight and still ended up as the second-best player on-court. In a do-or-die match to reach the final four, the world no.3 faced Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday and notched up a straight sets victory.

Alexander Zverev faces Novak Djokovic for a spot in ATP Finals 2021

Post his final round-robin match against the Polish star, Zverev talks about his next, lethal opponent, Novak Djokovic.

“I have played Novak in every single big hard-court tournament this year. We are making a habit of playing in the later rounds at big tournaments. It is going to be an entertaining one I think”, Zverev commented.

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Both Djokovic and Zverev have played against each other on four different occasions this year, all on hard-courts. The Serb leads the head-to-head tie with three victories to his name.

Despite putting up spirited performances against the world no.1, Zverev only managed to notch up just one victory at the Tokyo Olympics. Besides maintaining an impressive lead in tie-ups against Nadal and Federer, the world no.1 has also established his dominance against the younger crop.

Djokovic exerts command over the likes of Zverev and Medvedev

Against Medvedev, the Serb won six out of the eleven encounters faced. Coming to the record versus Zverev, Djokovic enjoys a hefty lead of seven victories compared to the German’s three.

However, Alexander Zverev has proved a couple of times that he has the game to defeat Djokovic in the best-of-three sets. But, considering the form that Novak is in at the moment, the odds are against the German.

But, Zverev was hopeful that he could put pressure on Djokovic and take it to the distance.

“I’m expecting another tough one. There will be a lot of long rallies, we will run a lot more and suffer, in a way, a lot more as well.I think every single match we have played has been close. We’ve needed to be at our best and one or two points decided the matches. I expect no different here as well”.

Let’s see how Alexander Zverev shines against world no.1 and 20-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic. Who do you think will win this match?

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