The crowds who filled the magnificent colosseum of a centre court at the Foro Italico for the last match of this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia were in for a rare treat, a final of contrasts, a final of significance, and perhaps a final that would be remembered as the day that the Next Generation truly threw down the gauntlet to ‘the big four’.
The tall, rangy, and uber-confident Alexander Zverev, only recently turned 20, was into his first Masters final—after playing in his first semi-final only yesterday—and would take on a man who was into his eighth final in Rome, four-time champion Novak Djokovic. The mighty Serb, owner of 30 Masters titles and 12 Majors, would turn 30 tomorrow.
Aside from taking on one of the greatest players in the modern era, Zverev took on one of the most formidable barriers in tennis, too, the Masters dominance of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray.
Only four out of the last 58 titles at this elite level—that is, back to the start of 2011—have been won by anyone else, and none of those four, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or David Ferrer, has won more than once.
Extend the search to Masters finalists, and the picture differs only a little: just 12 additional men have managed to make it to a final—in 58 events.
But should Zverev become the first man born in the 1990s to pull off this breakthrough, he would crack the top 10 for the first time, too, the youngest to do so since that other impressive 6ft 6in figure, Juan Martin del Potro, did so in 2008.
Already the youngest Masters finalist since his illustrious opponent, Zverev would also become the youngest Masters winner since Djokovic won his first in Miami in 2007.
But then the expectations had been building on his broad shoulders for years—and he had been rising to those expectations with aplomb, with a grounded confidence that belied his years.
Just last year, still 18, he held match point against Nadal in Indian Wells, only to net an easy smash. He broke into the top 50 with a run to the Munich semi-finals, and although he would lose to Federer in the second round at the Foro Italico, he would make the Nice final the very next week. He went on to reach the third round of a Major for the first time at Roland Garros—and the trajectory continued to rise through the hard-court swing, too.
The semis in Washington were followed by his first title in St Petersburg, beating the likes of Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka along the way. He arrived in Madrid last week with two titles, Montpellier and Munich, and made it to his second Masters quarter-final.
Now back in Rome, he had made the semis and the final with wins over big scalps: Kevin Anderson, Fabio Fognini, Milos Raonic, and John Isner. But Djokovic took the challenge a considerable notch higher.
Had the No2 seed not produced what he himself called his best performance of the year against Dominic Thiem in the semis, there may have been higher hopes of an upset by Zverev. Djokovic’s form had wavered through much of the season, with losses to unexpected opponents, an elbow injury, a parting of the ways with his coaching team, and holes in his confidence.
But he allowed Madrid finalist Thiem just one game in a truly outstanding show. Would he dismiss the still younger challenger with the same intensity? The answer came swiftly.
It was Zverev, out-playing Djokovic at his own game, who broke in the very first game, and he did not give the former champion so much as a toe-hold through the set. He fired wide and deep off both wings and to both wings, drawing errors in particular from the wide backhand.
Djokovic tried drop shots but Zverev, whose speed and agility are testament to the off-season training regime undergone by his slender physique, reached most of them, and he turned the tables with a couple of winners of his own.
But it was the penetration and pace of his ground strokes and serve, and his tactical clarity, that made life so difficult for Djokovic. Zverev calmly served out the set 6-4, with a backhand winner and two aces, after 36 minutes.
It did not take him long to grab the lead in the second set, either, firing through the Djokovic defences in the third game. And he would drop only three points on his own serve in the set, offering up not a single break point in the match.
Indeed he was in danger of sweeping through Djokovic, but he failed to convert a break chance in the seventh game. However, come the ninth, he drew frustrated error from the Serb to break for the match and title, 6-3.
It was, then, not just a breakthrough win to the top 10 but a convincing, confident and mature one—Zverev’s first Masters title, and the first by one of the so-called #NextGen.
And for such a significant result by a man more appropriately dubbed the #NowGen, it seemed only right that tennis’s most beloved champion, and perhaps the greatest ever to play the game, Rod Laver, should present the trophy to a young man who may, in time, make his own way to Grand Slam success.
Laver is now 78, and has seen many new champions arrive on tennis’s biggest stages. Djokovic is one—and Zverev is surely another.
However, even the poised Zverev crumpled before the reputation of Laver: “Coming into this week, I never thought I could win and take this trophy, and to take it from this man, Mr Laver, is something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Of that there is little doubt: A star has been well and truly born in Rome 2017.
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