Alexander Zverev enjoys golden moment on Olympic tennis courts

In a dominant, mighty and mighty performance on Sunday, Germany’s Alexander Zverev beat Karen Khachnakov of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-3, 6-1 to win the Olympic gold medal.

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In a dominant, mighty and mighty performance on Sunday, Germany’s Alexander Zverev beat Karen Khachanov of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-3, 6-1 to win the Olympic gold medal.

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“There are few people in the world who are happier than me right now,” Zverev told reporters after his victory. “I can’t compare it because it’s so much bigger than everything else in the sport.”

It was the first Olympic gold medal for a German in men’s singles and from the opening service there was no doubt who was in command.

Zverev, who shocked the Olympic tournament by beating Serbian Novak Djokovic, the world’s best player in the semifinals, carried the momentum in the gold medal match. Khachanov, who reached the final after his semi-final victory over Spaniard Pablo Carrena Busta, had no response to slow down the Zverev train.

From the start, Zverev was successful in his service matches, while Khachanov constantly struggled to win his own service matches. Khachanov’s good shots were returned with better shots.

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Come the second set, there was more of the same. Zverev was hitting with precision with his powerful forehand and he threatened to sweep the final set without losing a game before Khachanov recovered at least one game after being down 5-0.

Ranked fifth in the world and fourth in the Olympics, Zverev always had the potential to become one of the young players able to challenge the tennis greats of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

In the past, however, he’s shown nervousness at crucial times, with a tendency for his serve to crumble under pressure. In the 2020 US Open final, Zverev lost to Dominic Thiem in five sets, after winning the first two sets.

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As was the case against Djokovic in the Olympic semi-final, Zverev showed none of these, his serve being as dominant as the rest of his game.

“A gold medal for me at the Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world,” he said. “There is nothing like it. I have this gold thing around my neck and it’s not one of the 50 gold chains I normally have.

Doubles action at the Olympics also ended on Sunday.

In an all-Croatian men’s doubles final, Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic took a 6-4, 3-6 (10-8) victory over compatriots Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.

In the women’s final, Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic took control of their gold medal match against the Swiss duo of Belinda Bencic and Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-1. Bencic were looking to win a pair of gold, having won the women’s singles title on Saturday, but leave Toyko with the goal and a silver medal.

In the ROC mixed doubles gold medal match, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev defeated Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-7 (13-11).

kwarren@postmedia.com

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