Lorenzo Musetti’s Straight Sets Victory Ends Alexander Zverev’s Olympic Title Defense in Paris 2024
Lorenzo Musetti stopped Alexander Zverev from becoming the second person in history to win back-to-back Olympic singles gold medals.
The Italian upset the Tokyo 2020 winner in straight sets in Paris. After losing to 11th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-5, 7-5, Alexander Zverev’s dreams of becoming the second person in history to win back-to-back Olympic singles golds are finished. This implies that Germany will finish the 2024 French Open without winning a medal.
From the beginning of the match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the Italian player put pressure on the world No. 4 as he lost his initial service game. Zverev rallied to 5-5, but he was unable to maintain his serve and force a tiebreak in the opening set.
Once more, the court was oppressively hot, and Zverev spent one changeover break with a bag of ice on his head. The Italian’s aggressive performance proved to be too much for the defending champion to handle, as the second set was kept on serve until the eleventh game. After taking a 6-5 lead, Musetti served love to win the match.
With 29 unforced errors and four double faults, Zverev’s performance fell short of what tennis fans have become accustomed to. With his two gold medals from London 2012 and Rio 2016, Andy Murray of Great Britain, who is retiring from the sport at the end of the Paris Games, is now the only athlete to have successfully defended an Olympic singles championship.
To qualify for the gold-medal match, Musetti will now play either Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Iga Swiatek Upset by Zheng Qinwen in Paris 2024 Olympic Semifinals: A Heartbreaking Defeat
In the 2024 Paris Olympic semifinals, world no. 1 Iga Swiatek suffered a sad loss to Zheng Qinwen, falling to her in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5. After the competition, the 23-year-old, who had been the overwhelming favorite to win the gold medal, was distraught as she thought back on her performance and the opportunity she had lost.
With high expectations, Swiatek, the current Roland Garros champion, came back to Paris having won four of her five Grand Slam titles here. She had won 25 straight matches going back to 2022 when she entered the competition; in order to get more rest and training, she even skipped the Opening Ceremony.
Even with a great start, Swiatek was unable to stave off a well-tuned Zheng. Zheng breezed through the opening set before overcoming a 0–4 deficit in the second to take six of the final seven games to seal the victory. Swiatek acknowledged that under pressure, her backhand, which is typically her most dependable shot, slipped.
“My backhand basically had a hole in it. It is usually my best shot, so it happens infrequently,” Swiatek said. “I was so nervous that I was not positioned correctly technically. We were pressed for time to rectify and improve that. I am aware that’s not a valid excuse. I made an attempt to fix it during the game, but today it was completely ineffective. So, she used that extremely brilliantly to win the match.”
She was not even cheered up by the idea of competing for a bronze medal against Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia. Visibly upset, Swiatek started crying during the interview as she thought about her loss.
Also Read: Carlos Alcaraz Advances to Paris Olympic Semifinals 2024 with Victory over Tommy Paul, Eyes Gold
Tennis is expected to return to hard courts for the following two Olympic Games in Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). Nonetheless, considering her supremacy on the surface, the 2022 US Open winner had identified this uncommon clay-court Games as a fantastic chance.
Swiatek had a personal reason for competing in the Olympics: her father Tomasz competed in rowing in the 1988 Seoul Games, but his team lost in the semifinals before going on to the final.
This triumph represents the aspirations of nearly a billion and a half people for Zheng, the sixth seed. She created history by being the first Chinese tennis player, male or female, to make it to the Olympic final. Zheng will take against Donna Vekic of Croatia, who defeated Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0 in 67 minutes to become the first player from her nation to make it to an Olympic singles final.
