Medvedev earns chance to play slam final against a young gun
Medvedev has played either Djokovic or Nadal in each of his five previous slam finals
Daniil Medvedev, Australian Open, 2024 Virginie Bouyer / Panoramic
In his press conference after beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open on Friday, Jannik Sinner was asked why he thought his generation (himself, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune) were finding a way to beat the very best player in the world on the biggest stages.
Sinner’s answer was effectively that they have belief in themselves, that they all have different styles and that they have learned from being around the very best.
The same could be said for Daniil Medvedev, who of course beat Djokovic to win his first and to date only Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2021.
It has been Medvedev’s misfortune that all of his five previous slam finals have been against either Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, two of the big three, who dominated the men’s game over most of the past two decades.
While Djokovic played Roger Federer in his first final, he had the “luxury” of playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his first major final; Nadal played Mariano Puerta and Federer took on Mark Philippoussis, Medvedev has done things the hard way and come out on the losing side three times out of four.
different challenge awaits medvedev in sixth slam final
Now, he faces an altogether different challenge. He might not have to play Djokovic, for which he will doubtless be pleased about, but he has to take on one of the new kids on the block, Sinner, who has taken his time to get to this point. This will be his 17th slam and his progression has been superb, if not quite as fast as Alcaraz, who already has two slams to his name.
The Russian turns 28 next month, while Sinner is not 23 until August. The Italian is in the form of his life, the one set he dropped to Djokovic in the semi-finals the only one he’s dropped all fortnight.
The two men have played nine times before and though Medvedev leads 6-3, he will know that it’s a misleading stat. Sinner has won their past three meetings, each of them coming late in 2023.
Medvedev’s biggest issue may be recovering. He had already played over16 hours before stepping on to court to play Zverev; now he’s played over 20, compared to the less than 15 of Sinner.
Not just that, while Sinner has lost just one set, Medvedev has lost eight and come through three five-setters, including the last two rounds. If he starts slowly in the final, as he did against Zverev, then he might find Sinner has too much for him.
“He’s been very impressive,” Medvedev said of Sinner. “At 5-1 down in the (second-set) tiebreak to Andrey (Rublev, in the quarter-finals), I turned off the TV. I will need to recover well and be at 100 percent on Sunday.”
third time lucky for medvedev in australian open final?
This will be Medvedev’s third Australian Open final. In 2021, he lost in straight sets to Djokovic and in 2022, he led Rafael Nadal by two sets and a break only to be worn down in five.
“Hopefully it will be third time lucky,” Medvedev said. “I know from experience it doesn’t always work out like this but hopefully it will. It would mean a lot (to win). To be honest this court is not the one on which my self-esteem is the best, so I would be the happiest man on the planet, but I’ll have to play really well.”
Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara, believes the fact that his man will not be playing Djokovic, Nadal or Federer could make a difference.
“I would like that it makes a big difference, because, of course, Jannik is playing amazing tennis,” he said. “He proved it also today. Daniil played against him at the end of last year and it was tough matches.
“So in terms of tennis, it will be a very tough match, so I wish, I really wish that to play — the first final makes him a bit tense, less good, and give us some opportunity to use this chance to not play Novak or Nadal. But, I mean, at the same time it’s an amazing player in front of him, so it’s also a very, very big change.”
And if Medvedev has played more than Sinner these past two weeks, winning through such tough battles may just prove to be crucial.
“Mentally I’m stronger than before, because I am able to do things I didn’t know I could do,” he said. “Probably better to win in three or four sets but I’m very proud to be in the final.”
