Alexander Zverev will look to build on his dramatic upset of Novak Djokovic by claiming Olympic gold in men’s tennis against Karan Khachanov.
The main headline entering the men’s Olympic Tennis tournament would be whether or not World No. 1 Novak Djokovic could continue on his quest to win the Golden Slam by claiming the gold medal in Tokyo. That journey came to a crashing halt in the semifinals as Djokovic was upset in three sets by No. 4 Alexander “Sacha” Zverev of Germany.
Zverev put together a tremendous performance, rallying from down a set and a break to topple Djokovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to become the first German man to reach an Olympic Tennis final since Tommy Haas in 2000. The victory rates as one of the biggest in Zverev’s career since the ATP’s no. 5 ranked player hasn’t broken through at a Grand Slam yet, making his closest approach at the final of the 2020 U.S. Open, where he fell to Dominic Thiem in heartbreaking fashion after holding a two-set lead in the best of five match.
The other man in the final is Karan Khachanov, who will be representing the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee). The No. 12 seeded Khachanov has taken down a litany of seeded players on his way to the final, including a straight-set victory over No. 6 Pablo Carreno Busta in the semifinal round.
This run to the final is a bit surprising for Khachanov, who hasn’t done too well at the hardcourt slams, failing to advance past the third round at either the Australian Open or the U.S. Open. Zverev has always been a bigger threat on hard courts so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make his mark on the tennis world by claiming Olympic gold.
Broadcast information for the men’s Olympic Tennis gold medal match
- Date: Saturday, July 31
- Time: Approximately 11:00 p.m. ET
- Venue: Ariake Coliseum
- TV Time: 5:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 1 (Tape-delayed)
- TV: USA
- Live Stream: NBC Olympics, Fubo TV, Peacock