Germany’s Zverev gets it together at right time
No. 2 seed rallies for five-set victory
PARIS — Talented and peggedfor-success as Alexander Zverev might be, there he was in the French Open’s main stadium Friday, on the precipice of a third-round defeat and yet another Grand Slam disappointment.
A loss would have left the No. 2-seeded Zverev with an 0-8 record at major tournaments against men ranked in the top 50. A loss also would have left his resume still with merely one trip as far as the round of 16 at any Slam — and zero such runs at Roland Garros.
In the fourth set, his opponent served for the victory. In the fifth, the circumstances were more dire: Zverev faced a match point. Both times, he proved steadier and sturdier than Damir Dzumhur, a Bosnian ranked 29th and seeded 26th, and Zverev eventually prevailed 6-2,
3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in 3 hours, 54 minutes.
It gave the 21-year-old German his second consecutive five-set win; he trailed two sets to one in each. It also showed — not just to others but, perhaps more importantly, to Zverev himself — that he can handle such occasions, that he is capable of doing what’s necessary when the sets and hours add up, and that he is perhaps finally ready to stride into the very last days at a major. He’s the only active player outside of the “Big 4” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray with three Masters titles. But Grand Slam success has been elusive.
As for what sort of internal strife was happening in Zverev’s head Friday?
“None,” Zverev said. “Mainly, I was thinking (about) what I was going to have for lunch.”
Well, then.
He acknowledged drawing a dose of confidence from managing to win two five-setters in a row, “knowing that I’m fit enough to last as long as I want.”
In contrast, No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov was unable to pull off back-to-back five-set wins. The two-time major semifinalist fell to 0-7 against top-50 foes at the French Open with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 loss to 35th-ranked Fernando Verdasco.
“I lost my nerves early on,” Dimitrov said. “He played an absolutely stunning match. What can I say?”
In Dzumhur’s case, he was afflicted by jitters while on the verge of making it to a major’s last 16 for the first time.
Dzumhur served for the match leading 6-5 in the fourth set. But everything fell apart.
“I was not mentally ready to win that match in the fourth set. And I just was rushing a little bit in that service game,” Dzumhur said, before offering some credit to Zverev. “He was playing very smart in that moment. He let me do mistakes.” promotes arguably the two best pound-for-pound fighters in Terence Crawford and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
“The stars aligned,” Arum said.
“It’s one thing to have the best fighter in the world, but to have the two best fighters in the world is really a blessing.”
Arum won’t say which one is better. He’s just glad he gets to promote two boxers he considers to be alltime greats in the future.
Crawford and Lomachenko are even when it comes to skills in the ring, but Crawford, from Omaha, Nebraska, is behind in star status.
Lomachenko, the WBA lightweight champion from Ukraine, has all the momentum after getting up off the canvas with an injured shoulder to record a 10th-round technical knockout over Jorge Linares on May 12.
The victory earned Lomachenko many new fans and moved him to the top of numerous pound-forpound rankings. The 30-year-old might be boxing’s most exciting fighter with his aggressive punching style and masterful footwork.
Crawford (32-0, 23 knockouts) will return to the spotlight June 9 when he ends a 10-month layoff to challenge WBO welterweight champion
Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOS) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Crawford’s welterweight debut will be televised on the new ESPN+ $4.99 app.
Arum turned a lot of heads when he compared Lomachenko to the legendary Muhammad Ali. The 86-year-old promoter sees a lot of Sugar Ray Leonard similarities in Crawford.
“He’s a throwback to Sugar Ray Leonard, that’s the fighter I compare him with,” Arum said. “Is he better than what Leonard was? That’s hard to say, but certainly he’s on that level. He’s just absolutely been spectacular.”
Crawford, 30, is coming off a thirdround knockout over Julius Indongo to become the undisputed junior welterweight champion. He is the first boxer to be called undisputed in any weight class since 2006 when Jermain Taylor did it at middleweight.
Crawford is arguably boxing’s best defensive fighter and can pick apart opponents from righty and southpaw stances. But his slow approach in the ring might not appeal to many boxing fans, and it doesn’t help that most of his interviews are dull and short.
Arum doesn’t want Crawford to change just to gain fans.
“I want Crawford to be Crawford,” Arum said. “I don’t want him to be anything he’s not comfortable with. A lot of these guys for years tried to be Muhammad Ali out of the ring with their mouths, but there was only one Muhammad Ali.
“You gotta let these kids develop their own personality.”
A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected for the Crawford-horn fight, according to Arum.
Crawford drew an announced crowd of 7,027 the last time he fought at the MGM Grand in 2016, when he defeated Viktor Postol by unanimous decision.
“Crawford is ready for the ride of his life, starting with the Horn fight because he’s becoming the poster boy of ESPN,” Arum said.
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gmanzano24 on Twitter.