Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Alexander Zverev ends Germany’s wait of 29 years for Olympics Gold, defeats Karen Khachanov to win Men’s Singles


Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Alexander Zverev ends Germany’s wait of 29 years for Olympics Gold, defeats Karen Khachanov to win Men’s Singles

Alexander Zverev

World No. 5 Alexander Zverev becomes the 2nd German to win a Singles Gold in the Olympics as he defeats Karen Khachanov in the Gold Medal match of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Zverev won the match 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour and 19 minutes to become the 7th German to win an Olympics Gold.

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Zverev was highly dominant in his service and conceded just 1 break-point opportunity which Khachanov was unable to convert. On the other hand, Zverev had 8 break-points for him of which he claimed 4. He hit 6 aces and 0 double faults while Karen had 3 aces 1 double fault in the match. Zverev won a total of 65 points while Karen had 43 as the Russian Olympic Committee’s player settled for Silver.

Apart from his service game, Zverev had a disciplined match with his net game which has often been dubbed as one of his unpolished skills. The German won 86% of his net points and had a good check on his errors as well. He had 21 forced and 15 unforced errors while Karen had 27 forced and 11 unforced errors during the match.

Alexander Zverev joins a great company of German Gold winners

Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev now joins Steffi Graf as the only German to win a Singles Gold and ended Germany’s drought of 29 years for a Gold in tennis. The last time a German won gold was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when Boris Becker and Michael Stich won the Doubles Gold. Tommy Haas in 2000 and Angelique Kerber in 2016 came close but had to settle for a Silver in their respective Singles category.

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Zverev’s victory this year will also be the only tennis medal won by Germany at the Olympics this year as no other German could make it to the semi-finals even. The 25-year old often had disappointment on the biggest stages having lost a Grand Slam finals even.

But this time luck favoured him as he came back in a tough match against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and now goes on to win the Gold.

Also Read: Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Belinda Bencic becomes first Swiss woman to win an Olympic Gold