Lloyd Harris tantrum leads to 'absurd' moment in Zverev's US Open quarter-final win
Lloyd Harris' awkward temper tantrum punctuated his 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4 loss to gold medallist Alexander Zverev in the US Open semi-finals.
The 46th-ranked Harris, a 24-year-old from South Africa, had eliminated three seeded opponents — No. 7 Denis Shapovalov, No. 22 Reilly Opelka and No. 25 Karen Khachanov — to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal - but it all spiralled out of control at the conclusion of the first set against the German.
Harris loses his cool. ESPN
The unseeded South African broke the 2020 runner-up to lead 5-3 and served for the set but Zverev broke back.
In the tiebreaker, he held a set point at 6-5 but missed a forehand and dropped the next two points to cede the set.
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The players retreated to their chairs at the change over, when Harris went to grab two water bottles from the cooler. Knowing he had blown a perfect chance to push his claims for a semi-final berth, Harris smashed the bottles onto the court in frustration.
Players help the chair umpire and ball people clean up. ESPN
Then in unexpected scenes, Harris, Zverev, the chair-umpire and ball people all participated in cleaning the court for about five minutes. The rivals even stood and chatted for a moment or two before resuming the match.
Harris had rallied from two sets to one down against Olympic silver medallist Khachanov in the opening round but there would be no way back against the Olympic gold medal winner.
The 24-year-old from Germany moved out to lead of 3-0 in the second set to go two sets to love up, and then 4-0 in the third to stretch his winning streak to 16 matches.
Speaking after the match, Zverev said winning the the first set was pivotal in laying the platform for victory.
"Somehow managed to win that first set," Zverev said. "Loosened me up a little bit."
Alexander Zverev of Germany returns against Lloyd Harris. Getty
Zverev's winning run can be attributed to his improved serve as he fired down 21 aces and won 82 percent of first-serve points.
His second consecutive U.S. Open semi-final will come against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for a calendar-year Grand Slam, or No. 6 Matteo Berrettini.
"He is the best player in the world," said Zverev, who beat Djokovic in the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics. "He is very difficult to beat.
"But he's still also got to win tonight.
"I am going to watch it, like everybody else, I guess. I hope it goes for 8 hours and 30 minutes."
-with AP
