If you’re a NextGen player like Tiafoe, Zverev is the guy you’ve spent most of your short career chasing; he’s the guy you need to keep in your sights. On Wednesday he caught him, in what Tiafoe described as a “roller coaster out there.”
The first set was competitive, but as expected, Zverev, who was coming off a win over Roger Federer in the Montreal final on Sunday, broke serve just when he needed to, at 5-4, with a perfectly constructed rally that ended with a forehand winner. This time, though, Tiafoe had played well enough in that set to feel like he was in it.
He stepped forward to start the second, breaking serve with a big backhand approach and jumping to a 3-0 lead. Zverev, again as expected, narrowed the gap to 3-2, but this time it was Tiafoe who played big-boy tennis and used his 130-m.p.h. serve to hold for 4-2. From there, Zverev, coming off two full weeks of play and a perhaps ill-advised doubles match on Tuesday, began to weary. His shoulders slumped, he trudged to the sidelines on changeovers, he leaned on his racquet between points and he took no time at all setting up to serve. At 3-5, Tiafoe broke him with a reflex crosscourt forehand winner for the set. Sascha didn’t even think about trying to run after it.
That’s how play continued in the third set. Zverev looked like he was in a death march rather than a tennis match. But, as so often happens, he served just well enough, and Tiafoe got just tight enough, to keep it close. Tiafoe missed a routine return on break point early in the set, and missed an easy overhead wide that would have given him two break points at 4-3.
“I was keeping the rally going, keeping him running,” Tiafoe said. “But he was still competing, still serving big.”
Finally, the break came just at the right time. Serving at 4-5, Zverev went down 0-30, and Tiafoe reached match point with his most important shot of the day, a reflex backhand return winner of a 122-m.p.h. serve. When Zverev’s backhand on match point carried long, the celebrations could begin.
“I’m a pretty decent player, I guess,” Tiafoe said with a grin when he was asked what this win, his first over a Top 10 opponent, says about him.
What it also showed was that while he gives up a few inches on Zverev and isn’t as offensive minded, his game, which is based on speed, reflexes, counterpunching, a varied arsenal of shots and speed, can work at a Top 10 level. That’s worth raising the roof about.
