For years, people have been talking about how dark days will come for tennis when the big three retire, how the "white sport" will sink when Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic leave the scene one after the other, because there is no one to succeed them.
Those fears are real, because since the Australian Open in 2005, when Marat Safin was the champion, only seven tennis players have won Grand Slam titles - Nadal (17), Federer (16 of his 20), Djokovic (14), Andy Murray , Stanislas Vavrinka (three each), Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Čilić, at the US Open in 2009 and 2014 respectively.
None of the youngsters was even close to one of the four biggest cups, more and more often records are broken for players who reach the finals of the Grand Slams...
Next Generation, as the group of talented guys was called, never managed to get out of the shadow of the greats. Only its leader, Alexander Zverev, occasionally knew how to shine, won three Masters, defeated Federer, Djokovic and Wawrinka, but was far from great things at the Grand Slams (the biggest success was the quarterfinals of Roland Garros), which is why there were increasingly frequent comments that not a worthy successor of the "big three".
And then everything changed almost overnight - the German of Russian origin defeated Fedeks in the semi-finals at the ATP Championship in London, and then routinely defeated Djokovic in the final, who strolled to the title match against Cilic and Kevin Anderson, acting as if he had come with other planets. In the capital of the United Kingdom, he also routinely defeated Zverev in the group, which was another detail that did not favor the 21-year-old.
But on the court of the "O2 Arena" it seemed as if Zverev was the best tennis player in the world, not Nole. Saša played perfectly and showed that he can be mentally strong in the most important moments, because in the game in which he served for the set, he "fired" three aces. In the sea of eulogies about Zverev's game, the attitude of his famous countryman and Djokovic's former coach, Boris Becker, stands out.
"This is the moment the whole world has been waiting for. We have been saying for years that tennis needs new faces and good young players, and he showed that he is the best of the new generation. The victory over Djokovic is a big surprise, but also something we have expected from him for a long time . He won three Masters, beating both Federer and Novak, but the fact that he won them in a row at one of the biggest tournaments shows that he is the next big thing. The world saw the arrival of a new superstar on Sunday," said Becker.
The man who was the Wimbledon champion at the age of 17 says that the next challenge for Zverev is the Australian Open, because he has to prove that he can win matches in a row with three sets won.
"His mental stamina against Novak was impressive, because he was very strong. After the break, he served for the first set and made three aces. Just a few days before that, he lost to Djokovic 2:0, he was a complete outsider, but he was not blinked. He served over 225 kilometers per hour, and he didn't shy away from long points either. Novak is not used to someone staying with him for a long time in exchanges, but Saša did and that frustrated him."
Becker has been working for men's tennis in the German Tennis Association since last year and often advises Zverev, who has recently been coached by another legend of tennis - Ivan Lendl.
"I'm happy that Ivan is his coach, because he, as an eight-time Grand Slam champion, can tell him the same things as me, to teach him how to win. We have many great coaches in Germany, but I think that if you want to become number 1 , you better talk to people who have been at the top and know how to get there," Becker concluded.
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