No. 1 Andy Murray knocked out of Australian Open in fourth round
MELBOURNE — Apparently Mischa Zverev forgot his ranking place in the game, and mannered formalities, when he played world No. 1 Andy Murray in the fourth round at the Australian Open on Sunday.
The southpaw Zverev, ranked 50 spots below Murray, had never before beaten a top player in the world. His one failed attempt came against Novak Djokovic at the Shanghai tournament last year.
Zverev seemed to have also forgotten that these days Murray is a titled man, officially to be referred to as Sir Andy since being knighted by Queen Elizabeth at the end of last year.
The German just showed little care for Murray’s stature and status as he volleyed his way to a surprising 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 fourth-round upset in 3 hours, 34 minutes.
“I was in a little coma, serve and volleying my way through it," said Zverev, when asked on the court how he pulled off the match. “Everything just feels a little bit unreal.”
Later on, after having some time to absorb the achievement, he admitted, “It was the best match of my life, not only because it was best-of-five set match, it was a slam. It was just incredible.”
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There’s no denying Zverev played well above his ranking, looking every ounce a top 10 quality player as he aggressively stopped at nothing to get the job done. Zverev found his fortune by repeatedly moving forward in the court. He won 65 of 118 points at the net, while Murray won only 29 of 44 net attempts.
“I believed in myself,” Zverev said. “I believed that playing serve and volley against him and slicing a lot, trying to destroy his rhythm was going to work, which it did at the end. I knew there was no Plan B really. I can’t stay on the baseline, try to out-rally him.”
Murray hadn’t fallen to an opponent ranked as low as Zverev at a Grand Slam since losing to 51st-ranked Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina at the 2006 Australian Open.
Nevertheless, there were no hard feelings on Murray’s part. He gave Zverev his due for outplaying him on the day. It can’t be said that Murray didn’t present well during the match. He battled at a high level, even holding an early advantage on Zverev in the first two sets, leading 3-1 in the first and 3-0 in the second.
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Murray said. “He deserved to win because he played great when he was down, and also in the important moments.
“It’s the shots he was coming up with when he did come forward,” Murray added. “He came up with some great pickups, reflex volleys, especially at the end of the match when it was tight. He served very well when he needed to, especially when he was behind in games.”
Tennis can be a topsy-turvy affair as this Australian Open is illustrating now that the two top men have packed their gear bags to go home prior to the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Djokovic, the two-time Australian Open defending champion, didn’t even make it out of the second round, falling to Uzbek native Denis Istomin in a captivating five-set win.
It’s rare to see the top two players in the world taking early tumbles at the same major. The last time it happened was at the 2004 French Open when the No. 1 Roger Federer lost in the third round and the No. 2 Andy Roddick lost in the second round.
The last time Murray and Djokovic both lost prior to a quarterfinal at the same major was at the 2007 Australian Open — Murray fell to Rafael Nadal and Djokovic to Federer in round-of-16 matches.
A three-time Grand Slam champion and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Murray’s reached the Australian Open final five times — he lost to Federer in 2010, and Djokovic in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
“Obviously in the slams, with the best-of-five format, you have time to turn things around,’ Murray said. “There’s also time to mess it up, I guess, as well.”
Of late, the tennis world has been closely eyeing a Zverev, but just not Mischa. The 29-year-old hasn’t made much noise since attaining a career-high ranking of No. 48 in October 2009. Rather, it’s his lanky 19-year-old brother, Alexander, often referred to as Sascha, who the past couple of years has been touted as a future star.
It does create interest that it turns out to be Mischa who is heading into the quarterfinals where he’ll play the winner of the match between fifth seed Kei Nishikori and 17th seed Federer. The 24th-ranked Alexander, the highest ranked teen in the game, played a breathtaking five-setter with Rafael Nadal on Saturday night before the 14-time Grand Slam champion claimed victory.
“Everybody develops his game and personality in a different way,” Mischa Zverev said. “Maybe I didn’t work hard enough. There’s just different little things that lead to not maximizing your potential.
“I think I needed to (be at) the bottom, where I started basically from scratch,” he said, of going below the 1000 mark in early 2015. “That actually helped me to understand how much tennis means to me.”
