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      Novak Djokovic Reaches U.S. Open Final, One Victory From a Grand Slam

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      Djokovic beat Alexander Zverev, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, and has a chance to become the first man since 1969 to win a calendar-year Grand Slam. He will play Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday.Twenty-seven down, one to go.With a five-set win over Alexander Zverev of Germany on Friday night, Novak Djokovic moved to within a single match victory of pulling off the most hallowed achievement in tennis.After winning the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon this year and knocking out his first challengers at the U.S. Open, Djokovic now has to defeat only Daniil Medvedev of Russia in Sunday’s final to become the first man to win the Grand Slam in a calendar year in 52 years.And he got there in style, coming from behind early on, then surviving an onslaught from an opponent who seemed for a time that he might just have Djokovic’s number. Zverev came close, forcing Djokovic to go the distance in a grueling 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win, but the razor-thin margin only made Djokovic’s number at the Grand Slams in 2021 seem more mysterious.Djokovic needed 3 hours and 35 minutes to defeat Zverev.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe win on Friday night set the stage for one of the most remarkable weekends in tennis. On Saturday, the teenage sensations Emma Raducanu of Britain and Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who have captivated their countries and the crowds at the U.S. Open, will compete for the women’s title in the unlikeliest of finals.Raducanu, 18 and ranked 150th in the world, was barely known two weeks ago and now is the first player to reach a Grand Slam final after making it into the main draw through the qualifying tournament. Fernandez, who turned 19 this week and is ranked 73rd, was until a few days ago known as little more than a scrappy, undersized battler whose future was anyone’s guess.On Sunday, Djokovic will take on Medvedev and play for history. He is tied with his biggest rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, in the race for the most career Grand Slam titles with 20, a competition that Djokovic is determined to win so he can cement his legacy as the greatest player ever. But that race may take a few more years to reach its conclusion. At this point, though, it is nearly impossible to believe that Federer and Nadal, who are battling age and injury, can win a calendar-year Grand Slam. It is the thing that would make Djokovic the biggest of the Big Three forever.“The job is not done,” Djokovic said just past midnight Saturday morning. “The excitement is there. The motivation is there, without a doubt. Probably more than ever. But I have one more to go.”Djokovic went into Friday night’s battle with the fourth-seeded Zverev after playing what he said were the three best sets of the tournament in a quarterfinal defeat of Matteo Berrettini: a four-set, come-from-behind win over a younger, bigger and more powerful opponent.Alexander Zverev won the first and fourth sets.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesDjokovic, 34, was going to need a repeat performance against Zverev, a so-called next generation star who has figured out in the last year how to keep his cool in the biggest moments. In the U.S. Open final last year, Zverev blew a two-set lead, and even served for the championship, only to lose to Dominic Thiem in a tiebreaker at the end of a fifth set that descended into a parade of slices, errors and double faults.That version of Zverev has disappeared in recent months, especially against Djokovic. At the Tokyo Olympics, Zverev roared back from a set and a service break down to overwhelm Djokovic in a semifinal.When the draw for the U.S. Open came out two weeks ago, a rematch with Zverev in the semifinal round loomed as one of the biggest potential obstacles for Djokovic in his hunt for his sport’s holy grail. Zverev, 24, stands 6 feet 6 inches tall, floats around the tennis court with the grace of an N.B.A. shooting guard, and can unleash 130 m.p.h serves and rocketing forehands at will when he is playing well.For the first time since the tournament began, though, the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium was firmly in Djokovic’s corner. He has long been far more respected than loved, but a former girlfriend has accused Zverev of abusing her repeatedly in 2019. No charges have been filed and Zverev has denied the allegations, but the off-the-court situation disqualified him from being embraced as an endearing underdog.Chants of “Nole” — Djokovic’s favored nickname — began early in the night and spurred him as he mounted his latest comeback.Fans reacting during the third set.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe match started as so many others have for Djokovic — with an early hiccup that made the mountain he would have to climb that much steeper.This slip occurred as Djokovic served with the score tied at four games each, a moment fraught with danger against someone with a serve as powerful as Zverev’s.Zverev played his most aggressive game of the young night, whipping forehands that forced Djokovic to stretch on his backhand. Zverev inched ahead, and then Djokovic double-faulted to give the big German a chance to serve out the set. He did not waste it. Zverev won the opening set, just as Djokovic’s previous three opponents had.But Djokovic is as good at flipping the script as anyone who has ever picked up a racket.Berrettini has said Djokovic somehow gains energy from losing a set, rather than becoming demoralized. Just as he had in his last three matches, Djokovic raised the level of his game and surged to a second-set lead as Zverev began swatting untimely second serves into the net and getting lulled into the kinds of long rallies that are Djokovic’s strength. An hour-and-a-quarter after they began, Djokovic and Zverev were back where they started, all tied up.The turning point of the match came nearly an hour later. With Zverev serving to stay in the set, Djokovic put on a display of tennis genius and played a game that may be the one historians point to as the moment the finish line of the Grand Slam finally came into sight.No one in Arthur Ashe Stadium knew better than Zverev that rallying with Djokovic would result in a slow and painful death. And yet, somehow, Djokovic managed to play a kind of tennis Tai chi, sustaining rallies of 18, 32 and 12 shots to get to triple set point. Zverev survived rallies of 21 shots and an absurd 53 to save the first two.If he defeats Daniil Medvedev on Sunday, Djokovic can also become the career leader for singles wins by a man in the Slams, with 21.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThen, on the 15th shot of the sixth point of the game, he could do no better than float a desperate lob to Djokovic, who was waiting at the net to swat it down to take the lead for the first time all night.Zverev would not go quietly, though. He took a page out of the Djokovic playbook and somehow seemed to draw energy from falling behind. With Djokovic serving at 1-1, Zverev battled to turn the third game into a mini-marathon, digging in and clinching it with a slick forehand passing shot that Djokovic could not come close to touching. With Zverev’s serve cranking up beyond the 130 m.p.h mark, Djokovic could not find the opening to get even. Djokovic’s chance at history was down to a single set.Djokovic’s run to the precipice of the Grand Slam has had its share of five-set escapes. There was an early-round escape in Australia in February, when he overcame a torn abdominal muscle and the American Taylor Fritz. In Paris, he came back from two sets down to Lorenzo Musetti midway through the tournament and against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.Now came the chance for one more, and he did not waste any time jumping on it. Holding a 1-0 lead, Djokovic — and likely everyone else in the stadium — could sense Zverev growing shaky, the old Zverev returning. A double-fault gave Djokovic a sniff at a break at 15-30. A backhand error gave Djokovic the break point. Then one more rally went the wrong way for Zverev, and the set became a seemingly inevitable series of Zverev misses, including one leaping overhead smashed wildly out of bounds.One last backhand error for one last service break and after 3 hours and 35 minutes, Zverev was finally done.A match that could have gone either way, Zverev called it. “It went his way,” he said. “Very often it does.”And now the Grand Slam math becomes very, very simple: The only numbers that mattered were these — 27 matches down, one to go.Ben Solomon for The New York Times More

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      Novak Djokovic Beat Alexander Zverev, Will Play for Grand Slam at U.S. Open

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      Djokovic beat Alexander Zverev, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, and has a chance to become the first man since 1969 to win a calendar-year Grand Slam. He will play Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday.Twenty-seven down, one to go.With a five-set win over Alexander Zverev of Germany on Friday night, Novak Djokovic moved to within a single match victory of pulling off the most hallowed achievement in tennis.After winning the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon this year and knocking out his first challengers at the U.S. Open, Djokovic now has to defeat only Daniil Medvedev of Russia in Sunday’s final to become the first man to win the Grand Slam in a calendar year since Rod Laver did it in 1969.And he got there in style, coming from behind early on, then surviving an onslaught from an opponent who seemed for a time that he might just have Djokovic’s number. Zverev came close, forcing Djokovic to go the distance in a grueling 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win, but the razor-thin margin only made Djokovic’s number at the Grand Slams in 2021 seem even more mysterious.The win on Friday night set the stage for one of the most remarkable weekends in tennis. On Saturday, the teenage sensations Emma Raducanu of Britain and Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who have captivated their countries and the crowds at the U.S. Open, will compete for the women’s title in the unlikeliest of finals.Raducanu, 18 and ranked 150th in the world, was barely known two weeks ago and now is the first player to reach a Grand Slam final after making it into the main draw through the qualifying tournament. Fernandez, who turned 19 this week and is ranked 73rd, was until a few days ago known as little more than a scrappy, undersized battler whose future was anyone’s guess.On Sunday, Djokovic will take on Medvedev and play for history. He is tied with his biggest rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, in the race for the most career Grand Slam titles with 20, a competition that Djokovic is determined to win so he can cement his legacy as the greatest player ever. But that race may take a few more years to reach its conclusion. At this point, though, it is nearly impossible to believe that Federer and Nadal, who are battling age and injury, can win a calendar-year Grand Slam. It is the thing that would make Djokovic the biggest of the Big Three forever.Djokovic went into Friday night’s battle with the fourth-seeded Zverev after playing what he said were the three best sets of the tournament in a quarterfinal defeat of Matteo Berrettini: a four-set, come-from-behind win over a younger, bigger and more powerful opponent.Alexander Zverev won the opening set.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesDjokovic, 34, was going to need a repeat performance against Zverev, a so-called next generation star who has figured out in the last year how to keep his cool in the biggest moments. In the U.S. Open final last year, Zverev blew a two-set lead, and even served for the championship, only to lose to Dominic Thiem in a tiebreaker at the end of a fifth set that descended into a parade of slices, errors and double faults.That version of Zverev has disappeared in recent months, especially against Djokovic. In the Tokyo Olympics, Zverev roared back from a set and a service break down to overwhelm Djokovic in a semifinal.When the draw for the U.S. Open came out two weeks ago, a rematch with Zverev in the semifinal round loomed as one of the biggest potential obstacles for Djokovic in his hunt for his sport’s holy grail. Zverev, 24, stands 6 feet 6 inches tall, floats around the tennis court with the grace of an N.B.A. shooting guard, and can unleash 130 m.p.h serves and rocketing forehands at will when he is playing well.For the first time since the tournament began, though, the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium was firmly in Djokovic’s corner. He has long been far more respected than loved, but a former girlfriend has accused Zverev of abusing her repeatedly in 2019. No charges have been filed and Zverev has denied the allegations, but the off-the-court situation disqualified him from being embraced as an endearing underdog.Chants of “Nole” — Djokovic’s favored nickname — began early in the night and spurred him as he mounted his latest comeback.Fans react during the third set.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe match started as so many others have for Djokovic — with an early hiccup that made the mountain he would have to climb that much steeper.This slip occurred as Djokovic served with the score tied at four games each, a moment fraught with danger against someone with a serve as powerful as Zverev’s.Zverev played his most aggressive game of the young night, whipping forehands that forced Djokovic to stretch on his backhand. Zverev inched ahead, and then Djokovic double-faulted to give the big German a chance to serve out the set. He did not waste it. Zverev won the opening set, just as Djokovic’s previous three opponents had.But Djokovic is as good at flipping the script as anyone who has ever picked up a racket.Berrettini has said Djokovic somehow gains energy from losing a set, rather than becoming demoralized. Just as he had in his last three matches, Djokovic raised the level of his game and surged to a second-set lead as Zverev began swatting untimely second serves into the net and getting lulled into the kinds of long rallies that are Djokovic’s strength. An hour-and-a-quarter after they began, Djokovic and Zverev were back where they started, all tied up.The turning point of the match came nearly an hour later. With Zverev serving to stay in the set, Djokovic put on a display of tennis genius and played a game that may be the one historians point to as the moment the finish line of the Grand Slam finally came into sight.Djokovic serving.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesNo one in Arthur Ashe Stadium knew better than Zverev that rallying with Djokovic would result in a slow and painful death. And yet, somehow, Djokovic managed to play a kind of tennis Tai chi, sustaining rallies of 18, 32 and 12 shots to get to triple set point. Zverev survived rallies of 21 shots and an absurd 53 to save the first two.Then, on the 15th shot of the sixth point of the game, he could do no better than float a desperate lob to Djokovic, who was waiting at the net to swat it down to take the lead for the first time all night.Zverev would not go quietly, though. He took a page out of the Djokovic playbook and somehow seemed to draw energy from falling behind. With Djokovic serving at 1-1, Zverev battled to turn the third game into a mini-marathon, digging in and clinching it with a slick forehand passing shot that Djokovic could not come close to touching. With Zverev’s serve cranking up beyond the 130 m.p.h mark, Djokovic could not find the opening to get even. Djokovic’s chance at history was down to a single set.Djokovic’s run to the precipice of the Grand Slam has had its share five-set escapes. There was an early round escape against in Australia in February, when he overcame a torn abdominal muscle and the American Taylor Fritz. In Paris, he came back from two sets down to Lorenzo Musetti midway through the tournament and against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.Now came the chance for one more, and he did not waste any time jumping on it. Holding a 1-0 lead, Djokovic — and likely everyone else in the stadium — could sense Zverev growing shaky. A double-fault gave Djokovic a sniff at a break at 15-30. A backhand error gave Djokovic the break point. Then one more rally went the wrong way for Zverev, and the set became a seemingly inevitable series of Zverev misses, including one leaping overhead smashed wildly out of bounds.One last backhand error for one last service break and after 3 hours and 35 minutes, Zverev was finally done, and the Grand Slam math was very, very simple: The only numbers that mattered were these — 27 matches down, one to go.Ben Solomon for The New York Times More

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      Lloyd Harris Plays Alexander Zverev in U.S. Open Quarterfinals

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      Harris, a South African player, is followed with great excitement in his home city of Cape Town, and specifically at the unique academy that helped launch his career.The WhatsApp text chain has grown to about 100 people, many in Cape Town with others spread around the globe, playing tennis and sending their congratulations and enthusiastic messages of support to Lloyd Harris.“They are all on there congratulating me,” Harris said. “It’s such a special feeling. They are like my family.”The thread includes the coaches, administrators, parents and kids that train at the Anthony Harris (no relation) academy, where Lloyd Harris developed as a professional tennis player. Lloyd Harris is their inspiration, their affirmation of success, an example that it can work. But most important to all of them, he is their academy brother.“He means so much to these kids and they all look up to him,” Anthony Harris, who has served as Lloyd Harris’s main coach since he joined the academy in 2012, said in an interview from Cape Town. “They are staying up late and talking about how he great is doing. It’s a fantastic inspiration for everyone.”What Lloyd Harris, 24, has done is barge into the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open men’s singles draw to cap a summer that included a win over Rafael Nadal in Washington last month. When he arrived in New York, he beat three seeded players — Karen Khachanov, Denis Shapovalov and Reilly Opelka — to reach his first major quarterfinal, where he will play the No. 4 seed, Alexander Zverev of Germany, on Wednesday.“I always knew I had the ability,” Harris said. “I never had a problem beating some of the top guys. But it was consistently playing at that level, which was a little bit more challenging for me.”Harris’s rapid climb is followed with great excitement in Cape Town, his home city, and specifically at the unique academy that helped launch his career. His parents heard about the program and asked Anthony Harris if he would take their son. Lloyd Harris joined in 2012 when he was 14 years old, and quickly became the program’s most accomplished student.“I told his mum,” Anthony Harris said, “‘Your son is special. He has a chance to do something big in this sport.’ She said, ‘Let’s go for it.’”Lloyd Harris, center with Anthony Harris, right, and coach Eitan Adams, left, after winning ITF Pro Futures tournament in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 2016.Courtesy Anthony Harris Tennis AcademyThe Anthony Harris Tennis Academy, a modest enclave tucked into the tony Bantry Bay area of Cape Town, has grown since Lloyd Harris first joined. It now boasts five coaches, three blue hard courts and one clay court. There is a small residence hall for the most financially disadvantaged students, some of whom lived in shanties before they moved in and attended for free.It is not a glamorous, corporate academy, but it helped shape Harris into the player and person he is, and both Harrises think of it as family.“I’ve never once been to the academy where it’s been a bad atmosphere or a bad vibe,” Lloyd Harris said. “It’s always positive energy, the coaches are having fun with the kids, but working hard. It’s just this really special thing.”Lloyd Harris, who is currently ranked 46th, grew up in a middle class household, but many of the students at the academy are from underprivileged backgrounds.While academics and human development are a core part of the program, tennis is at the forefront of the academy’s mission. Those who meet certain criteria, regarding their progress through the junior tennis ranks, are given funding to travel the world as they attempt to become professionals. The rest focus on getting a university scholarship.At first, there were only a handful of kids. Now there are a dozen, and the hope is to be able to accommodate about eight more. The academy has taken one child who was found rummaging for food, and another who showed promise at tennis but was kicked out of a different program for behavioral issues.“Maybe we can change their life,” Anthony Harris said. “It’s like the old fable about giving someone a fishing rod. We can’t help a thousand kids. But maybe we can help 15 or 20.”Leo Matthysen, 15, lives in Mitchells Plain, outside of Cape Town, and is the top-ranked junior boy age 15 and under in all of Africa after spending the last several years at the academy.Kelly Arends and Mikaeel Woodman, also longtime members of the academy, recently earned scholarships to play for Tyler Junior College, a Texas school with one of the premier junior college tennis programs in the United States, and they arrived there two weeks ago to begin their freshman seasons.Leo Mattysen, Robbie Arends, Mikaeel Woodman, Jordy Gerste, and Kelly Arends.Courtesy Anthony Harris Tennis AcademyWoodman, 18, also grew up in Mitchells Plain, in what he called “a really rough area.” He said had it not been for the academy, he might have ended up in a gang.“It got me off the street and changed my life,” Woodman said after his practice at Tyler Junior College on Tuesday. “I went when I was 10 and I got to watch Lloyd for seven or eight years. I really want to play professionally, one day, like him.”With Anthony Harris as the head coach on a staff of eight, tennis is seen as vehicle for success, and Lloyd Harris is their Model T.Soon after he joined up in 2012, he and the coach began traversing the continent with Lloyd playing tournaments in Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Morocco and Egypt, to name a few, and then moved on to tournaments in Europe and Asia before he turned pro in 2015.“One of the things I’m most proud of, and I told Lloyd this,” Anthony Harris said, “is that he never got one wild-card entry into a top-tier tournament. He had to work for everything he got.”Funding is always an issue for the academy. The family of Nathan Kirsh, an Eswatini billionaire businessman, is a principal contributor and Lloyd Harris is hosting a golf tournament in Cape Town in November to help raise funds for a program that is so dear to his heart.“We’ve come such a long way and from where it started, this small little program, to what it’s become now,” Lloyd Harris said. “It’s a home for so many kids from underprivileged backgrounds, who now have these amazing opportunities.”With the demands of his profession, and the difficulty of traveling to and from one of the most remote parts of the earth (at least for tennis travel), Lloyd Harris relocated to Dubai, where he now trains. He has not been back to South Africa all year because of pandemic travel restrictions. He has been working with Xavier Malisse, the former top professional player, in conjunction with Anthony Harris.But before his pandemic-induced temporary hiatus, Lloyd Harris regularly returned to the academy to practice and hit with the kids on court.Lloyd Harris, bottom left, at the Academy last year in February.Courtesy Anthony Harris Tennis Academy“You should see how they gravitate to him and how he responds,” said Dionne Harris, Anthony’s wife and the main administrator who makes the academy operate smoothly. “He brings them equipment and things and lets them return his serves. He is like the hero.”Lloyd Harris does not go that far. But he recognizes his role in the lives of all the children on that WhatsApp thread, cheering him on.“They see how I’m behaving, how I’m working but also enjoying myself on the court,” Lloyd Harris said. “I know they are watching. Hopefully, I can teach them well.” More

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      Alexander Zverev Soars on the Court as Abuse Allegations Linger

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      The German star has a good chance of getting in the way of Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of a Grand Slam, even as he confronts allegations of domestic violence.Alexander Zverev is playing the best tennis of his career.He stretched his winning streak to 12 matches on Tuesday with a clinical, 100-minute demolition of Sam Querrey, the hard-serving American who is always dangerous on hardcourts. Zverev is one month removed from knocking off the world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, in the Olympic semifinal and winning the gold medal in men’s singles, which he followed by winning the Western & Southern Open near Cincinnati, a top-level event on the men’s tour and the main tuneup for the U.S. Open.But as he prepares to face Albert Ramos-Viñolas of Spain in the second round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, he continues to fend off allegations of domestic violence from a former girlfriend that have become the elephant in the room, one that neither the ATP Tour nor Zverev can ignore any longer.As Zverev’s stature on the court has grown this summer, so has attention to the accusations. Last month, leaders of the ATP announced a review of how the tour handles players accused of domestic abuse. Zverev went to court in Germany last week to contest publication of a lengthy article in Slate that details accusations from a former girlfriend, Olya Sharypova, a former Russian tennis player, that Zverev repeatedly abused her.Sharypova has not filed any criminal charges over the incidents, which she says took place in 2019.Zverev, 24, a German, has repeatedly and categorically denied ever abusing Sharypova. In recent days, he has pointed to the German court’s decision late last week to issue an injunction against Slate and the author of the article, Ben Rothenberg, from publishing the allegations without more substantial evidence as a confirmation of his innocence.Rothenberg is a freelance tennis journalist who sometimes writes for The New York Times. He and Slate have stated they stand by the reporting in the article, which Slate has not removed from its website or blocked from readers in Germany, despite the injunction from the German court.“We stand by our fair and accurate reporting based on multiple sources and interviews,” Katie Rayford, Slate’s director of media relations, said in a statement.The initial decision from the court in Germany, where the libel and defamation standards are more stringent than in the United States, was far from a final word on the matter.The hearing in the court in Berlin took place without the participation of Slate or anyone except Zverev’s lawyers. The decision stated Zverev’s lawyers made a credible argument that the accusations were not true, but the court did not hear testimony from the other parties involved, and it’s not clear how the ruling will be enforced.The court, however, agreed with his argument that the evidence presented in the article was not sufficient under German law to justify the impact on him. The decision stated that such an article needed to have enough balance so that it did not leave the impression that Zverev was guilty of the acts Sharypova accused him of committing.Olya Sharypova attended Zverev’s match at the U.S. Open in 2019.Anthony Behar/Sipa USA, via Associated PressSharypova, who was not a named defendant in Zverev’s complaint, continued to make claims against him on Instagram after the ruling, writing that she was not afraid of Zverev, his family or his legal team, though she has since taken down the post.“I said the truth and you’re going to court to try to win it with a lie?” she wrote. “Nice try to scary me, but I have nothing to be afraid of.”After his first-round win on Tuesday, Zverev said he planned to push ahead with the legal battle to clear his name.“I think my statement was very, very clear, and I think the German court system is also very clear,” he said.“I will not let that sit on me, and that’s it,” Zverev said of the accusations. “I’m not going to comment on it any further because, to be honest, I have been dealing with it for a long time now.”Days before the Slate article was published, the ATP Tour announced it would review its strategy for handling players who are accused of domestic abuse or sexual misconduct. The major North American sports leagues took similar actions years ago.Critics of the ATP, including active players, have long asked for similar action from their own association. Until now, the ATP has waited for legal proceedings to conclude, a process that can take years, before issuing its own penalties or punishments for players.Last month, the leaders of the tour said they had commissioned a report from a panel of independent experts to recommend a new policy for more proactive involvement.“Abuse has a profound and lasting impact on millions of victims each year,” Massimo Calvelli, chief executive of the ATP Tour, said in a statement announcing the creation of the panel. “When abusive conduct or allegations are related to any member of the tennis family it can also impact the public’s trust in our sport. We recognize that we have a responsibility to be doing more.”Coming up with a uniform policy for tennis might be easier said than done. Seven major organizations run the sport. Scores of players have signed on to a new players association that Djokovic and others are attempting to create. The sport operates and the players live all over the world, and legal standards differ from one country to the next, though that may be the strongest reason for the need for a single abuse policy.Andy Murray, a former No. 1 who is a member of the ATP Player Council and has lobbied for a change in the policy, applauded the move on Monday.“Obviously it was something that needed to change in terms of how some of the situations have been handled, I think, this year,” Murray said. “I just didn’t really feel like the sport had much of a sort of stance on it really.”He added: “Let’s see what their suggestions and recommendations are at the end of that. Hopefully there is a policy in place at the end of it.”Zverev said he, too, supported a new policy for abusive behavior, though he has not committed to participating in an independent investigation by the ATP Tour that could be included in such a policy.Amid the allegations and legal proceedings, he has somehow managed to play the best tennis of his career. Midway through his semifinal against Djokovic at the Tokyo Games, Zverev abandoned caution and began blasting away with his serves and returns. Zverev rendered one of the best players ever to play the game helpless.He has not let up since, putting on another show on Tuesday against Querrey. He blasted 18 aces, won 60 of 74 points on his serve and never faced a break point. He credited his success on the court with his happiness off it.“The past year has been very, very good for me,” he said during his on-court television interview after the match. “I have had a lot of success on the court. I also enjoy life outside the court.” More

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      Stefanos Tsitsipas Beats Zverev to Reach French Open Final

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      Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 22-year-old rising star from Greece, will play in his first Grand Slam final Sunday.Tsitsipas survived five-sets of testosterone-fueled tennis Friday, staving off a stirring comeback from Alexander Zverev of Germany Friday, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the first men’s semifinal. He will play the winner of the heavyweight matchup between Rafael Nadal, the 13-time French Open champion, and Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1.Tsitsipas, a passionate player and person who makes films in his spare time, fought back tears in an interview on the court after the match. “All I can think of is my roots where I came from a small place outside Athens, my dream was to play here,” he said. He is the first Greek player to make a Grand Slam final.Tsitsipas has now beaten two players ranked in the top six to reach the final and has dropped just a single set in six matches.Tsitsipas was in control from the beginning of match, breaking Zverev in his first service game and cruising for an early lead. Zverev, 24, a lanky and powerful player who has made the semifinal round in four of the past five Grand Slams, stepped up in the second set, surging to a 3-1 lead, only for Tsitsipas to raise his game even higher.With Zverev searching for tight angles, Tsitsipas chased down every shot. And when he reached the balls, he showed off every ounce of creativity.He has the power to exert intense pressure on an opponent, a sneaky backhand drop shot, and at 6-foot-4, an intimidating net game. Exerting all three at once, he reeled off five straight games to take the second set as Zverev got sloppy, spraying his strokes wide and long. More