Zverev stuns Federer to reach ATP Finals title match

LONDON — Roger Federer will end the year tantalisingly short of his 100th career title after the king of men’s tennis was forced to bow to young prince Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Federer, whose 99 titles are second only to the 109 of Jimmy Connors, began the day’s first semifinal, as favourite but it was German Zverev who revelled in the big match atmosphere at a packed O2 Arena to win 7-5, 7-6(5).

On Sunday, the 21-year-old will chase the biggest title of his fledgling career when he takes on either World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

Zverev is the first German to reach the final of the season-ender since Boris Becker lost to Pete Sampras in 1996.

Saturday’s clash between the Swiss winner of 20 Grand Slam titles and the tousle-haired youngster tipped to lead the sport into a brave new era once the holy trinity of Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal depart the stage, did not disappoint.

After 11 games without so much as a break point it was Federer who surprisingly blinked first.

Zverev curled a superb running forehand pass down the line to get to 0-30 on the Federer serve and was then gifted two points and the set as the second seed’s forehand malfunctioned.

Federer was not about to be ushered off one of his favourite stages without a fight though and a rapier-like backhand pass gave him the early break in the second set, only for Zverev to hit back immediately to cancel out the advantage.

The German, winner of more matches than any other player on Tour this year, had his opponent in trouble when Federer served at 3-4, but the Swiss reeled off four points to stay on level terms in the set.

Chants of “Let’s Go Roger, Let’s Go” reverberated around the darkened arena as the second-set tiebreak began, and there were boos as Zverev stopped a rally when trailing 3-4 because a ballboy had dropped a ball.

There were then gasps of despair from the Federer diehards when their man got a little too delicate with an attempted drop volley at 4-5 to hand Zverev two match points.

Federer saved one but Zverev would not be denied, belting away a backhand drive volley to end the contest.

Shortly after German wunderkind Alexander Zverev trudged off court having lost to Chung Hyeon at this year’s Australian Open he was treated to a few kind words from Roger Federer.

Whatever the Swiss great said apparently had some effect because scroll forward to the end of the year and the 21-year-old tops the tour match wins chart with 56.

He has three titles to his name this season, including winning a third Masters 1000 in Madrid.

World No. 5 Zverev, now under the watchful eye of eight-times Grand Slam champion, and former coach to Andy Murray, Ivan Lendl, does not attribute his great season to Federer’s words of wisdom. But they certainly did no harm.

“That chat was more for then in that time. I was very upset about my third-round loss,” Zverev told reporters after his 7-6(5), 6-3 win over John Isner to seal a last-four spot.

“I had a tough match, another tough loss at a Grand Slam. He was more talking about that, that I shouldn’t get too upset. He made his first quarter-final much later in his career, as well.”

Zverev, tipped to lead tennis forward in the post Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Murray era, finally reached a Grand Slam quarter-final at this year’s French Open — at the 15th time of asking. Federer did it in his eighth.

There are signs, though, that Zverev is beginning to harness his natural power and foot speed into a complete package. 

Former World No. 1 Mats Wilander believes the appointment of Lendl could be a key decision for Zverev.

“He is going in the right direction,” the Swede told Reuters. “He’s made big steps in his ranking which is good and small steps in terms of his game. He is not panicking any more.

“There is still room for improvement. It won’t be overnight but it’s going to help him tremendously to have someone like Ivan with his experience. Lendl made just small changes with Murray and he ended up winning a bunch of majors.”