Alexander Zverev on US Open being left without a Grand Slam champion: ‘Now it gets interesting’

US Open

Shahida Jacobs
September 7, 2020

A new player will join the Grand Slam winners’ circle come Sunday evening and Alexander Zverev admits this is “where it gets really interesting”.

With world No 1 and title favourite Novak Djokovic defaulted from the US Open after he accidentally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball, it means there are no major champions left in the tournament.

Djokovic’s demise meant Pablo Carreño Busta joined Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov and Borna Coric in the quarter-final.

Second seed Dominic Thiem and the third-seeded Daniil Medvedev along with Felix Auger-Alliasime, Matteo Berrettini, Andrey Rublev, Frances Tiafoe, Alex de Minaur and Vasek Pospisil are the other eight men who still have to play their fourth-round matches.

None of the 12 remaining players have a major to their name and Zverev is excited that one of the young guys will finally win a Slam.

“There’s going to be a new Grand Slam champion,” he said. “That’s all I know right now. There’s no past Grand Slam champions left in the draw.

“It’s going to be one of the young guys, I think, if you count Dominic Thiem as a young guy, as well. He obviously has a chance to win, as well.

“Now it gets interesting. Now I think is the time where it gets really interesting. Yeah. I know who is where in the draw. I know who I can play. I know who the rest of the guys can play. Yeah. We’ll see where we go from here.”

As for Djokovic getting thrown out of the tournament, the German admits the 17-time Grand Slam winner was unlucky.

“I mean, look, it’s unfortunate. He hit a ball, he hit a tennis ball. It’s very unfortunate that, you know, he hit the line judge, and especially where it hit her,” he said.

“Yeah, there is a rule in place for it. I think the supervisors and all of them are just doing their job. But, yeah, very unlucky for Novak.

“I think he’s going to be a little bit upset about it, but, yeah. He could have – if he would have hit it anywhere else, if it would have landed anywhere else, we are talking about a few inches, he would have been fine.”

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Alexander Zverev Novak Djokovic