The 30-year wait for German winner of Hamburg Open is over

At the Hamburg European Open, a hometown player put an end to the country’s 30-year drought in men’s singles titles.

On Sunday in Hamburg’s Am Rothenbaum, Alexander Zverev defeated Laslo Djere 7-5, 6-3, and won his first championship since the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals.

The fourth seed dominated Djere and became the seventh player this season to win a tour-level title without dropping a set thanks to some scorching hitting throughout the one-hour, 51-minute match.

Zverev is yet to comment on fresh allegations of domestic abuse that were made just last week.

On court after his win he acknowledged the crowd and labelled the title a very special one.

“At the end of the day, this is my home, this is where I grew up, and this where I started playing tennis,” said Zverev, who was competing in his first ATP Tour final since his run to the championship match at the Madrid Masters in May lasy year.

“It was incredible for me, incredibly emotional. I can’t describe it in words, I’m just super happy right now.”

“It’s almost like a first [title] again,” said Zverev of his 20th career title win.

“It’s such a long time [since my previous title], 18 months, and I’m just super happy right now.”

Against the in-form Djere, who had only lost service three games on route to his first ATP Tour championship match of the year, Zverev was ruthless with his opportunities on return. As he scored three of his four break points to move ahead of Djere 3-0 in their head-to-head series at ATP Tour level, with the German routinely blazing Djere’s serves back at him wiht deep cuts in a dominant win.

“I think he was the much better player throughout the first set. I just kind of stuck with it and dug it out somehow,” Zverev admitted.

“Credit to him, he’s one of the most respected guys on Tour, he’s doing all the right things. At the end, I’m just happy that it went the way it went.”

The fact that Zverev won his 20th tour-level championship at home has increased his chances of earning a spot in the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals. Zverev, a two-time winner at the coveted season finale, has moved up three positions to ninth place in the Race To Turin with his championship run, though Taylor Fritz might move back up to ninth if he wins the Atlanta Open final later on Sunday.

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