World Tennis League: Alexander Zverev beats Novak Djokovic

Strong sign of life from Alexander Zverev : The German defeated Novak Djokovic 6: 3 and 6: 4 in an exhibition match in Dubai.

by tennisnet.com

last edit: Dec 20, 2022, 07:13 pm

Alexander Zverev is getting back in shape

Yellow ball on a yellow background – whoever is responsible for choosing the surface of the World Tennis League seems to have borrowed from Otto Waalkes and his East Frisian national flag (white eagle on a white background). Which is a shame. Because judging by the movements of Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, the two delivered a pretty appealing match on Tuesday evening in Dubai.

For Zverev, who had mainly trained with his teammate Dominic Thiem over the past few days, it was the next really massive test after his comeback in Saudi Arabia. There Zverev first won against Thiem, then lost against Daniil Medvedev after a weak first and decent second set.
And now Novak Djokovic, who dominated the second half of the 2022 season on the ATP tour. Small glitches like the defeat against Holger Rune in the Paris-Bercy final included.

Zverev with two breaks against Djokovic

The Serb took Zverev’s first service game straight away, and Zverev equalized to make it 2-2. And made the break to 5: 3 – with a deciding point. In Dubai they want to keep the matches rather short. The German number one served without any problems.

While Alexander Zverev played the game he was used to before the long injury break, Novak Djokovic showed himself surprisingly often at the net. The second set began with a break from Zverev, Djokovic immediately equalized again. The native of Hamburg did not give up the renewed advantage to 3: 2.