Six years after an agonizing loss in the US Open final, Alexander Zverev says "everything is different" as he returns to the title match in Flushing Meadows.
The top-seeded German held off a battling Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) on Friday to reach his third straight Grand Slam final.
Zverev admits his US Open near miss against Dominic Thiem in 2020 left scar tissue, but all the doubts have finally been dispelled with his maiden major at the French Open.
He followed that with a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, and even though he knows he'll be in hostile territory on Sunday -- taking on American Ben Shelton -- he relishes the challenge.
"I think a lot has happened," he said. "I've played in a lot of other finals. I've played a lot of big matches since then.
"Back then, of course, it was my first Grand Slam final. I was inexperienced ... just different. Everything is different.
"I am pretty sure that the atmosphere is going to be very, very different on Sunday as well," added Zverev, who played to an empty stadium in 2020 amid the Covid pandemic.
"I think it's going to be a fantastic feeling playing a final in a sold-out Arthur Ashe and not in an empty one."
Zverev, who beat Khachanov in the gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, seized the lone break of the opening set in the penultimate game and held serve to pocket the set.
Zverev broke again to open the second set, Khachanov sending a backhand long after failing to land a first serve in the game, but later Zverev double-faulted to hand the Russian a break for 2-2 as they fought into a tie-breaker.
Khachanov saved a pair of set points, smacking a backhand down-the-line winner to reach 7-7 before Zverev captured the second set two points later when the Russian hit a forehand wide.
In the third set, both men held all the way into the tie-breaker. Zverev saved two set points when Khachanov sent forehands wide and long. Zverev followed with his final ace and won when the Russian sent a forehand long after two hours and 58 minutes.
It was a solid performance from Zverev, who labored through two five-set victories to open the tournament but hasn't dropped a set since.
"I think the improvement has been quite dramatic for me," AFP quoted him as saying. "It's a great thing, because I really started off the tournament, and I was, like, 'Well, this is pointless because I'm not going to do anything here,' and here I am sitting and preparing for a Sunday final.
"Things like that can happen in sports and tennis. Things can change very quickly for the positive or negative. For me, luckily, it was for the positive.
"Now I'm going to do everything I can to prepare for Sunday."
