Zverev ends Djokovic bid for Golden Slam, slams him out in semifinal

Germany’s Alexander Zverev denied world number one Novak Djokovic the opportunity to write his name in the history books as the first man to ever achieve the Golden Slam as he came back from a set down to defeat the Serb 1-6 6-3 6-1 with a phenomenal performance.

Djokovic came into the match with guns blazing, having won his last 22 matches, winning the 2021 Australian, Wimbledon and French Open titles along the way. The Serb reached the Last 4 of the Olympics without dropping a single set. He looked set to blow his 24-year-old World number four German opponent away as he raced to a 6-1 lead in the opening set. He went on to lead the second set 3-2 before Zverev finally woke up from his slumber and took the game to Djokovic aggressively, winning an extraordinary eight consecutive games to put himself in the gold medal match, ending Djokovic’s quest to win all the major honours available this year.

Zverev will face ROC’s 12th seed Karen Khachanov in the final after the Russian defeated Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the other semifinal.