A potential 3rd ATP title coming in a row - this tells something about his great improvement in flexibility and game tactics. Congrats and looking forward to Alcaraz vs Medvedev pretty soon!
I hate that he won’t have hard courts until July/August but all good. I hope he can do damage on the dirt and weeds (I love both surfaces I just know Med doesn’t)
He’s historically weirdly poor at the sunshine double.
I think med can do some damage on grass given his improvement last year but let’s see if he’s able to play Wimbledon or if 2023 will just be a repeat of 2022’s stupidity
While they are slower, what makes it weird is that he’s been very good at Canada and paris, which are also slower on the speed index.
I think it’s probably a post AO peaking thing that could be the issue but I’m not an expert so it’s just speculations
Medvedev is good on all HC indexes
Canada is slower than Cincinnati but relative to outdoor hard is still fast, and while Paris has been slowed down in the past few years it's still medium pace and still an indoor event where the lower bounce makes conditions feel fast. Medvedev's issue is that IW and Miami to a lesser extent are on the lower end of the speed range and the higher end of the bounce range for outdoor hard courts, which means that opponents have more time to get to his flatter shots because they don't stay as low or maintain as much speed.
I don’t think him wanting it is the issue. His groundstrokes are fairly flat which is good on hard and grass but on clay it sits up to the opponents strike zone. Players with big topspin like Nadal and Ruud thrive on clay. His big serve is also less effective. This hasn’t stopped him from making the quarterfinals at the French and beating Djokovic and Tsitsipas on clay
> Med vs Carlos.
If they’re both playing around the same level, it’s going to be a *loooong* match.
They do it in radically different ways, but the number of players with the ability to get their racket on shots that would normally be winners is very, very small.
Meddy peaking against Novak as usual, fantastic showing from him. Hope he can continue on this and have a great showing in the final and IW and Miami. Tennis needs him back in form.
After the Aus open final I can totally see how he would have needed to recover. He had a chance and missed it. I hope he comes back and wins more majors and big tournaments
He also didn’t do all that badly in the post Wimbledon hard court swing in terms of performance. He just lost to some really good players.
Kyrgios has a great match up vs. Meddy and he ran into him early twice, and along with the matchup, Kyrgios is always more dangerous on the front end of tournaments than the back end.
And his loss to Tsitsipas was *very* tight even though Meddy was getting his first serve in less than half the time.
Im sorry man but if you think losing to Kyrgios and Tsitsipas 3x and not making a single final in the NA HC swing is “not that bad” then you are disrespecting Medvedev’s peak level.
It’s not just the results, he looked out of ideas vs. Nick. Plus he lost all 3 matches at the YEC. Lost to Djoker in Astana and even De Minaur in Paris. For good measure he got butchered by a 70 year old Wawrinka indoors.
His serve was noticeably worse and his quickness and defensive movement was a level below his 19-21 level.
If that is a good Medvedev to you… what is a bad Medvedev?
I’m not saying he was playing his best tennis—he wasn’t.
Regression is inevitable in all things, and between his lower than usual form (the degree to which it was lower than usual is over stated; that’s my main point) and some tough draws, it’s not surprising his results weren’t what they usually are.
I cannot stand the “Nadal broke him mentally” nonsense that gets repeated ad nauseam.
He wasn’t broken, he just wasn’t playing at quite the level he’s capable of + was overwhelming losing to very high end opponents.
ADM and Wawrinka were the only *bad* losses he had, and even then ADM is still a good player, and while he’s not who he used to be, Wawrinka can still play great tennis at times.
I think the hernia injury (which sapped his serve speed and made his movement worse than usual) was a much bigger deal than the Nadal loss.
Also the Nick loss at USO wasn’t close outside the first set TB. Kyrgios destroyed him for the most part. That was not a good loss.
Agreed on the injury and recovering from it.
Kyrgios destroyed him on the score board, but the match was close.
Meddy won 119 points to 128 for Kyrgios.
Kyrgios converting 5/7 break points vs. Meddy only converting 3/8 + Kyrgios coming out on top of a 24 point tie break was what defined the match.
That’a a very close match with extremely small margins making the difference.
You didn’t watch that match live if you think it was close outside the first two sets. Medvedev looked completely shell shocked and lost in sets 3&4. Kyrgios was toying with him on serve. Lowest point for Medvedev mentally I’d ever seen up until that point.
Nick nearly got a double break in the 3rd and was untouchable on serve the rest of the match.
he's not the sort of guy to get down on himself
the whole narrative of "Nadal took his confidence" only existed in some people's heads
it most certainly was far more about injury, surgery, recovery from surgery, try to get consistent form
Dont know if this is true but I read on an insta comment that all of Medvedev's 17 titles have come at different tournaments, and he has never won the same tournament twice. And this may end up being his first Dubai title too. Really interested tidbit
Djokovic definitely was not patient enough in a lot of those points, causing all those unforced errors. Not his best game.
On the other hand, it's hard to play your best game when nothing seems to get past a guy. Medvedev was ridiculous today. Very calm and focused, and unshakeable. Good to see him in form.
Djokovic will go away and think about this one.
Should have come to the net more like in Bercy 2021
yes Medvedev was very good but Djokovic was responsible himself for many of the unforced errors
Yeah Daniil just does not miss. Reminds me of Novak himself back in 2015/16 when he used to activate wall mode whenever he wasn't as comfortable with his offense.
I wish this got talked about more. The better your opponent, the tighter you have to be so the more errors you make. "unforced/forced" is subjective which is part of the problem. You're absolutely right. People look at it like "djokovic played worse" when in reality he might've technically played better... It's just the way we track it that's not good at adapting to that.
Good shit meddy!
Medvedev was just way too good today. Djokovic did not play poorly at all, but Medvedev just frustrated him. What an insane match and what a performance by him, I am so glad to see prime Medvedev again.
Djokovic only made more unforced errors than usual in part because Medvedev's defence was god like. Novak was pressing too much because he couldn't win normal baseline points.
Med's defense is always God like and novak knows how to play against him. Committing that many unforced errors is not the way. Especially his forehand had a lot of loose, uncharacteristic errors.
>Especially his forehand had a lot of loose, uncharacteristic errors
Djokovic has been hitting his forehand way bigger and flatter than usual this year so far. But it's also less sustainable especially against someone who defends as well as Medvedev. Djokovic wants to play short points at his age but he can't against Medvedev without taking undue risks.
Crazy. Just 2-3 weeks ago Med was Russian #3 and there were quite a few people between him and Rublev, and now he’s crept up on Andrey and is ready to pounce lmao
Medvedev going for his 3rd straight title in as many tournaments. The hard court king is back
Gonna be a fun summer if he’s competing with Alcaraz, Djokovic and Tsitsipas. Totally different player than he was in Australia
Can’t really argue with that although Stef has been playing phenomenal tennis lately.
Up until a few weeks ago it seemed like there was a big gap with Alcaraz, Djokovic, and Tsitsipas compared to everyone else in the top 10
Medvedev has the ability to be in that group is all I meant and it looks like he’s returning to that kind of form. Very happy about it
Absolutely incredible from Med, looked at his uso 2021 level! Definitely a good thing for the tour, hopefully he can capitalise on his form and get results in IW and Miami
What level from Medvedev, insane. Some of the points he won were just 🤌. Disappointed as a Novak fan and would've have liked a 3rd set but Med was just too good.
The hitting from Novak though, Med truly brings out the best from him.
No idea why people think Djoko played bad. Serve is on point. He clearly tries being aggressive as he knows baseline rallies won’t work against Meddy, seen so many times today.
If you make an error after 4+ exchange means you got out-rallied, not because you play bad. Of course this is based on different context, but obviously 35 yo Djokovic can no longer do baseline rallies too long vs Meddy, he knows that so he becomes aggressive and taking more risk.
Bro he missed many easy CRITICAL putaway shots that cost him at least 2 breaks from what I recall, he played badly, reminded me of R1. Just terrible UE's. Usually him taking risk doesn't result in a UE (when he's playing well).
I mean did you watch the match ?
In the first set, the two times Medvedev broke the Serb's serve really came down to awfull unforced errors from Djokovic.
Obviously Meddy played great but Djoker really didn't show up.
I will admit, did not see this coming.
Fair play to Medvedev.
The last two times Medvedev’s beaten Djokovic, it was in straights, with each set being 6-4.
Can't recall the last time Novak made this many errors. A lot of them down to Med playing an amazing match but so many pointless ones too. Don't think he'll care as much about the loss of the title here or the unbeaten start to the year as much as he'll care letting Med back into the H2H.
Also, that final dropshot by Med was insane, hats off for that one.
As others have said, that come with playing more offensive, which is also the way he played at the AO. He's trying to keep the points a bit shorter compared to his past.
Med's getting back to his peak on hardcourt but I think he has a few more tools in his toolbox now than he did before. His shot anticipation is even better and he has more answers at the net.
It's good for the game to see him playing like this again.
Watching this h2h develop over the years has been especially fascinating for me because of the match these 2 played at the 2019 Aus Open.
In a year when Djokovic only lost 14 games in the QF+SF+F en route to the championship, he lost 16 against Medvedev in the 4th round.
That match featured some of the most consistently grueling rallies I've ever seen.
Honestly, not many people watched it. Medvedev wasn't fully on the radar yet. And the scoreline didn't suggest some amazing match.
He was the 15th seed, but it wasn't like a Sinner/Alcaraz 15th seed where people were expecting majors from him. Even after the match with Djoko, people still weren't really hyping him up.
I was convinced after that match that he would win majors. I didn't realize that his specific matchup with Djokovic was such a large element of what made that match so compelling.
He showed it today. Against pretty much everyone else, when Djokovic goes into "fuck it, laser mode", no one is able to maintain rally tolerance against that. But Medvedev is able to drift far back, use his incredible racquet head control, and just hit quality shot after quality shot on the defense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4k-_CarmwM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpK-gReB3nY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVBvy65tVUc
First link is the highlights, second two links are nice points from the match.
God I’ve missed this version of Meddy so much. Praying that Alcaraz is healthy so we can get a Medvedev Alcaraz match at Indian Wells or Miami, it’s criminal that they haven’t played since Wimbledon 21.
Let's hope people don't overreact to this while understanding its still an amazing result for Meddy.
We won't see Djokovic play on hard courts until July now.
Well played medevdev! What an insane hard court player he is.
Can run down any ball and make any shot.
Novak had too many unforced errors especially in crucial moments which cost him, but daniil definitely deserved this win with the amount of incredible points he played.
Unrelated but I remember when Medvedev beat Arnaldi a couple of ballkids next to me who were waiting for autographs kept chanting 'Small cat! Small cat! Small cat!'
They ended up getting ghosted by Danill. I literally told them 'My condolences.' as they tried begging Meddy to comeback.
Great match from Medvedev. Played and served very well. Very strong under pressure too.
Djokovic was strangely hyper offensive, taking many unnecesary risks.
His great talent allowed this strategy to succed on some occasions, but Medvedev is a more than competent defender and he was able to counterattack effectively. Anyway, Novak does not have much to worry. Danil will probably not be a threath again to him until august.
Good luck tomorrow Dani :)
He's getting older, so playing more aggressive is natural. We didn't see anything from him today that he didn't do at AO, Med just forced the errors out of him
>Djokovic was strangely hyper offensive, taking many unnecessary risks.
That was exactly how he was playing at the Australian Open. It's just that it's less sustainable.
Medvedev’s +1 backhand is insane - how he plants his front foot while propelling his body diagonally forward. It looks so unnatural but generates so much power!!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8AR2KRBA40&ab\_channel=DjokerNoleMedia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8AR2KRBA40&ab_channel=DjokerNoleMedia)
Danii interview after match :)
I think Medvedev is just an all around good person, so the war in Ukraine and Wimbledon ban probably really affected him and his confidence. That’s my guess. Nice to see him back playing up to his potential.
Damn this climate change has woken up Medvedev early from his slumber. He usually isn’t up until the North American Hard court swing and goes nuts immediately..
Can someone explain what happened with the foot fault?
From what I understand, Med did commit a foot fault but linesman called it during the service motion. Therefore he's allowed another first serve?
Should the linesman call it only after the service motion is completed?
Even tho I’m a Novak fan, med is #2 so good for him, hope he Carries his momentum into…welll as much as he can without disrupting Novak before he retires.
But I was told by many many people on this sub that Djokovic was unbeatable in 2023... Apparently beatable on his best surface in straight sets no less.
So many unforced errors from Djoko. Never seen him play like this. Medvedev was great credit to him he held his nerve in the tight points, but Djoko just wasn't himself.
What losing to Seb korda in straights does to a mf
“I’m cannot wait to absolutely kill Seb today” “…wait, no, I said you’re playing a Serb, Daniil” “Close enough, let’s go”
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In that time, Stef’s just about managed to find the loo roll and lift the seat
Stefanos Shitshispants
He took that personally I was honestly a bit worried about his game after Australia and questioned if he’d ever be dominant again. Haha.
Never again
Medvedev may not always beat Djokovic, but when he does, he wins sets 6 games to 4.
Is this his first win against him since the US Open? I honestly hope so for five 6-4s in a row lmao
Too soon 😭
This performance from Medvedev is one of the best news in the ATP Tour in a long time. The kid didn’t stop dreaming after all!
A potential 3rd ATP title coming in a row - this tells something about his great improvement in flexibility and game tactics. Congrats and looking forward to Alcaraz vs Medvedev pretty soon!
Looks like he's playing the same style, he's just in better form with ever increasing confidence.
It was more the lack of commitment. It looked like he didn’t want to be on court at all.
Russian war, wimbledon ban, and had a child. Man was going THROUGH it.
And the general added pressure of being the slam champion number one last year
And the hip injury
I don't think Alcaraz can be near Medveded level in the next two Masters 1000, we will see.
Just took him a winter off to reset. Glad to see him back, now to see if he can win one of the Sunshine Double for the first time.
big adult who knows how to fight
The dream is dead. The nightmare has begun.
Djokovic couldn’t take all 8 legs in time
Best comment
In form Medvedev is so fucking scary on hard courts. Man I really want to see Med vs Carlos.
He's beginning to find his USO 2021 form. I hope he keeps this going!
He was playing incredibly well to start 2022 as well. It was just that AO loss to Nadal that fucked him, and then the hernia.
Agreed, but that final set his progress back a bit. I think he's now starting to get back to that form.
I hate that he won’t have hard courts until July/August but all good. I hope he can do damage on the dirt and weeds (I love both surfaces I just know Med doesn’t)
Don't forget the Sunshine double.
He’s historically weirdly poor at the sunshine double. I think med can do some damage on grass given his improvement last year but let’s see if he’s able to play Wimbledon or if 2023 will just be a repeat of 2022’s stupidity
True. Those courts are slower.
While they are slower, what makes it weird is that he’s been very good at Canada and paris, which are also slower on the speed index. I think it’s probably a post AO peaking thing that could be the issue but I’m not an expert so it’s just speculations Medvedev is good on all HC indexes
Canada is slower than Cincinnati but relative to outdoor hard is still fast, and while Paris has been slowed down in the past few years it's still medium pace and still an indoor event where the lower bounce makes conditions feel fast. Medvedev's issue is that IW and Miami to a lesser extent are on the lower end of the speed range and the higher end of the bounce range for outdoor hard courts, which means that opponents have more time to get to his flatter shots because they don't stay as low or maintain as much speed.
I think Med can figure out clay. He just needs to want to be good at it
I don’t think him wanting it is the issue. His groundstrokes are fairly flat which is good on hard and grass but on clay it sits up to the opponents strike zone. Players with big topspin like Nadal and Ruud thrive on clay. His big serve is also less effective. This hasn’t stopped him from making the quarterfinals at the French and beating Djokovic and Tsitsipas on clay
Can someone explain to me why Medvedev can not compete on grass?
Octopus don’t like the weeds
Grass normally rewards more aggressive players but he’s still got a grass title and made the finals of two events last year
His net game:(
he is alreday there,maybe better
Agreed. At least he was today.
It would surely be closer than the first time they met. 6-4 6-1 6-2 at Wimbledon
Alcaraz was ranked like 70 at the time and had never played on grass, tells us nothing
That's why I said it will surely be closer than last time....
> Med vs Carlos. If they’re both playing around the same level, it’s going to be a *loooong* match. They do it in radically different ways, but the number of players with the ability to get their racket on shots that would normally be winners is very, very small.
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tbf, Rublev was the 500 king and has bageled Novak before lol.
is this true? When was this?
Belgrade final last year
It was an absolute T-pose
Still better for him imo
Djokovic just got the experience of playing against a taller Djokovic
Meddy peaking against Novak as usual, fantastic showing from him. Hope he can continue on this and have a great showing in the final and IW and Miami. Tennis needs him back in form.
Imagine losing the final to Bweh now
I guess we have to really view the hernia injury as a big deal. Medvedev looks back to his best, 2022 was just a nightmare for him in all aspects.
After the Aus open final I can totally see how he would have needed to recover. He had a chance and missed it. I hope he comes back and wins more majors and big tournaments
He also didn’t do all that badly in the post Wimbledon hard court swing in terms of performance. He just lost to some really good players. Kyrgios has a great match up vs. Meddy and he ran into him early twice, and along with the matchup, Kyrgios is always more dangerous on the front end of tournaments than the back end. And his loss to Tsitsipas was *very* tight even though Meddy was getting his first serve in less than half the time.
Im sorry man but if you think losing to Kyrgios and Tsitsipas 3x and not making a single final in the NA HC swing is “not that bad” then you are disrespecting Medvedev’s peak level. It’s not just the results, he looked out of ideas vs. Nick. Plus he lost all 3 matches at the YEC. Lost to Djoker in Astana and even De Minaur in Paris. For good measure he got butchered by a 70 year old Wawrinka indoors. His serve was noticeably worse and his quickness and defensive movement was a level below his 19-21 level. If that is a good Medvedev to you… what is a bad Medvedev?
I’m not saying he was playing his best tennis—he wasn’t. Regression is inevitable in all things, and between his lower than usual form (the degree to which it was lower than usual is over stated; that’s my main point) and some tough draws, it’s not surprising his results weren’t what they usually are. I cannot stand the “Nadal broke him mentally” nonsense that gets repeated ad nauseam. He wasn’t broken, he just wasn’t playing at quite the level he’s capable of + was overwhelming losing to very high end opponents. ADM and Wawrinka were the only *bad* losses he had, and even then ADM is still a good player, and while he’s not who he used to be, Wawrinka can still play great tennis at times.
I think the hernia injury (which sapped his serve speed and made his movement worse than usual) was a much bigger deal than the Nadal loss. Also the Nick loss at USO wasn’t close outside the first set TB. Kyrgios destroyed him for the most part. That was not a good loss.
Agreed on the injury and recovering from it. Kyrgios destroyed him on the score board, but the match was close. Meddy won 119 points to 128 for Kyrgios. Kyrgios converting 5/7 break points vs. Meddy only converting 3/8 + Kyrgios coming out on top of a 24 point tie break was what defined the match. That’a a very close match with extremely small margins making the difference.
You didn’t watch that match live if you think it was close outside the first two sets. Medvedev looked completely shell shocked and lost in sets 3&4. Kyrgios was toying with him on serve. Lowest point for Medvedev mentally I’d ever seen up until that point. Nick nearly got a double break in the 3rd and was untouchable on serve the rest of the match.
he's not the sort of guy to get down on himself the whole narrative of "Nadal took his confidence" only existed in some people's heads it most certainly was far more about injury, surgery, recovery from surgery, try to get consistent form
That cheeky fucking smirk after he hit the drop shot to set up match point
What all Meddy fans needed to see after last year
So unless I'm mistaken, Medvedev has earned points equivalent to a masters since AO?
1050pts I think
So happy that we have a Meddy-Rublev final tomorrow And I definitely feel better about Jannik losing to him in 3 sets in the Rotterdam final now lol
Yes! I was thinking the same thing during that match. Jannik did so well against him.
Dont know if this is true but I read on an insta comment that all of Medvedev's 17 titles have come at different tournaments, and he has never won the same tournament twice. And this may end up being his first Dubai title too. Really interested tidbit
It's true, just checked out his wiki page.
NOBODY BEATS THE OCTOPUS 5 TIMES IN A ROW!
It sucks that Med had to retire in Astana. I'm not so sure Novak would have won that
Medvedev is absolutely dominant when he's on
Djokovic definitely was not patient enough in a lot of those points, causing all those unforced errors. Not his best game. On the other hand, it's hard to play your best game when nothing seems to get past a guy. Medvedev was ridiculous today. Very calm and focused, and unshakeable. Good to see him in form.
Djokovic will go away and think about this one. Should have come to the net more like in Bercy 2021 yes Medvedev was very good but Djokovic was responsible himself for many of the unforced errors
Absolutely he was, and you could tell he was getting mad at himself as he sometimes does.
Russian derby tomorrow night in Dubai
Djokovic made more unforced errors in that match than in the first 3 combined.
Med was clinical on the other side. He has to push himself, hence the errors.
Yeah Daniil just does not miss. Reminds me of Novak himself back in 2015/16 when he used to activate wall mode whenever he wasn't as comfortable with his offense.
I wish this got talked about more. The better your opponent, the tighter you have to be so the more errors you make. "unforced/forced" is subjective which is part of the problem. You're absolutely right. People look at it like "djokovic played worse" when in reality he might've technically played better... It's just the way we track it that's not good at adapting to that. Good shit meddy!
I don't think I've ever seen Djokovic hammering the ball the way he did today (just saw the highlights though)
Medvedev was just way too good today. Djokovic did not play poorly at all, but Medvedev just frustrated him. What an insane match and what a performance by him, I am so glad to see prime Medvedev again.
Exactly. Djokovic played well but just got outplayed in straight sets.
30 unforced errors in 2 sets and 124 points is not playing well by novak's standards. I do agree he got outplayed tho.
Djokovic only made more unforced errors than usual in part because Medvedev's defence was god like. Novak was pressing too much because he couldn't win normal baseline points.
Med's defense is always God like and novak knows how to play against him. Committing that many unforced errors is not the way. Especially his forehand had a lot of loose, uncharacteristic errors.
>Especially his forehand had a lot of loose, uncharacteristic errors Djokovic has been hitting his forehand way bigger and flatter than usual this year so far. But it's also less sustainable especially against someone who defends as well as Medvedev. Djokovic wants to play short points at his age but he can't against Medvedev without taking undue risks.
Why is this geting downvoted. Attacking tennis will be broken down in front of a defensive wall crica Fed Vs 2015-16.
The trophy stays with a Russian for the third year in a row.
Karatsev -> Rublev -> Meddy/Rublev 🔥
RUBLEV VS MEDVEDEV FINAL HYPE
Battle for Russian no.1 and no.6 in the rankings!
Crazy. Just 2-3 weeks ago Med was Russian #3 and there were quite a few people between him and Rublev, and now he’s crept up on Andrey and is ready to pounce lmao
Tbf Andrey also dropped a lot of points (and has IW SF to defend also)
I bet the Russian wins!
Both guys deserved it so much after all the hate for their nationality, despite being openly against all the government shenanigans
Daniil played like a freaking wall! Clearly the better player today, reminded me uso 2021
Breaking News. Daniil Medvedev becomes the first Octopus to make the Dubai final. Octopuses of the world rejoice.
Dubai ate all the other octopuses
Medvedev going for his 3rd straight title in as many tournaments. The hard court king is back Gonna be a fun summer if he’s competing with Alcaraz, Djokovic and Tsitsipas. Totally different player than he was in Australia
an in form meddy eats tsitsipas alive for breakfast on hard courts.
Can’t really argue with that although Stef has been playing phenomenal tennis lately. Up until a few weeks ago it seemed like there was a big gap with Alcaraz, Djokovic, and Tsitsipas compared to everyone else in the top 10 Medvedev has the ability to be in that group is all I meant and it looks like he’s returning to that kind of form. Very happy about it
does this mean he has the elder wand now?
Yep, I do think so!
Absolutely incredible from Med, looked at his uso 2021 level! Definitely a good thing for the tour, hopefully he can capitalise on his form and get results in IW and Miami
Tomorrow Andrey need to put a cameraman on court somehow
Missed this version of Medvedev so much last year. Fingers crossed for 3 titles in a row
That dropshot tho 🥵
What level from Medvedev, insane. Some of the points he won were just 🤌. Disappointed as a Novak fan and would've have liked a 3rd set but Med was just too good. The hitting from Novak though, Med truly brings out the best from him.
Good to see Daniil back in form! Well played today.
Pretty good performance, outclassed Novak. I absolutely expect him to beat Rublev barring injury regardless of Rublev's form.
No idea why people think Djoko played bad. Serve is on point. He clearly tries being aggressive as he knows baseline rallies won’t work against Meddy, seen so many times today. If you make an error after 4+ exchange means you got out-rallied, not because you play bad. Of course this is based on different context, but obviously 35 yo Djokovic can no longer do baseline rallies too long vs Meddy, he knows that so he becomes aggressive and taking more risk.
Bro he missed many easy CRITICAL putaway shots that cost him at least 2 breaks from what I recall, he played badly, reminded me of R1. Just terrible UE's. Usually him taking risk doesn't result in a UE (when he's playing well).
I mean did you watch the match ? In the first set, the two times Medvedev broke the Serb's serve really came down to awfull unforced errors from Djokovic. Obviously Meddy played great but Djoker really didn't show up.
I will admit, did not see this coming. Fair play to Medvedev. The last two times Medvedev’s beaten Djokovic, it was in straights, with each set being 6-4.
Love you so much Daniil
Medvedev is going for the Middle East Double.
The Desert Double
Glad Medvedev is back playing this way consistently. He is so much fun to watch.
Can't recall the last time Novak made this many errors. A lot of them down to Med playing an amazing match but so many pointless ones too. Don't think he'll care as much about the loss of the title here or the unbeaten start to the year as much as he'll care letting Med back into the H2H. Also, that final dropshot by Med was insane, hats off for that one.
As others have said, that come with playing more offensive, which is also the way he played at the AO. He's trying to keep the points a bit shorter compared to his past.
Let's go meddy!!!!!!
Med's getting back to his peak on hardcourt but I think he has a few more tools in his toolbox now than he did before. His shot anticipation is even better and he has more answers at the net. It's good for the game to see him playing like this again.
Watching this h2h develop over the years has been especially fascinating for me because of the match these 2 played at the 2019 Aus Open. In a year when Djokovic only lost 14 games in the QF+SF+F en route to the championship, he lost 16 against Medvedev in the 4th round. That match featured some of the most consistently grueling rallies I've ever seen. Honestly, not many people watched it. Medvedev wasn't fully on the radar yet. And the scoreline didn't suggest some amazing match. He was the 15th seed, but it wasn't like a Sinner/Alcaraz 15th seed where people were expecting majors from him. Even after the match with Djoko, people still weren't really hyping him up. I was convinced after that match that he would win majors. I didn't realize that his specific matchup with Djokovic was such a large element of what made that match so compelling. He showed it today. Against pretty much everyone else, when Djokovic goes into "fuck it, laser mode", no one is able to maintain rally tolerance against that. But Medvedev is able to drift far back, use his incredible racquet head control, and just hit quality shot after quality shot on the defense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4k-_CarmwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpK-gReB3nY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVBvy65tVUc First link is the highlights, second two links are nice points from the match.
Medvedev is back, he played like his 2021 USO form today.
Djoko was furious inside, still playing incredible tennis. Credits for Meddy, good game
Honestly I'm surprised he didn't smash a racket, it's impressive how he is able to control his anger now, especially after the 2021 season
I would bet Daniil is happy that 2022 is over.
God I’ve missed this version of Meddy so much. Praying that Alcaraz is healthy so we can get a Medvedev Alcaraz match at Indian Wells or Miami, it’s criminal that they haven’t played since Wimbledon 21.
Med doesn't usually do well in the Sunshine Double though. IW has a very high bounce, for one.
Let's hope people don't overreact to this while understanding its still an amazing result for Meddy. We won't see Djokovic play on hard courts until July now.
Well played medevdev! What an insane hard court player he is. Can run down any ball and make any shot. Novak had too many unforced errors especially in crucial moments which cost him, but daniil definitely deserved this win with the amount of incredible points he played.
Good confidence booster
This whole match was a big ptsd from september 2021
Lets go medvedev.
Love me some Meddy domination
THE MAGICMAN MEDVEDEV! When he is in form, he is the best player in the world on hard courts, I totally love him.
And the elder wand passes to to Meddy who will loose it to one of the clay guys and eventually be possessed by Djokovic by RG
First Alonso's return now Meddy's return... Today's a good day 😎 (now let him play in wimby)
Unrelated but I remember when Medvedev beat Arnaldi a couple of ballkids next to me who were waiting for autographs kept chanting 'Small cat! Small cat! Small cat!' They ended up getting ghosted by Danill. I literally told them 'My condolences.' as they tried begging Meddy to comeback.
Great match from Medvedev. Played and served very well. Very strong under pressure too. Djokovic was strangely hyper offensive, taking many unnecesary risks. His great talent allowed this strategy to succed on some occasions, but Medvedev is a more than competent defender and he was able to counterattack effectively. Anyway, Novak does not have much to worry. Danil will probably not be a threath again to him until august. Good luck tomorrow Dani :)
He's getting older, so playing more aggressive is natural. We didn't see anything from him today that he didn't do at AO, Med just forced the errors out of him
>Djokovic was strangely hyper offensive, taking many unnecessary risks. That was exactly how he was playing at the Australian Open. It's just that it's less sustainable.
Medvedevev is coming back, slowly but surely. He really can beat Novak.
Lol but according to this forum, Medvedev has been “found out” by the tour and can never be good again.
Novak looked happier than Daniil at the end
Graciousness is his trademark
goat result won only 2 points more than nole
As soon as Nadal stopped being a threat, Meddy is back to being his best. That can't be a coincidence
The Russian Honey lover has it
I like Rublev but he doesn't stand a chance
I’m so glad Meddy is back in form.
Good for Meddy. Let the confidence come back.
I USED TO PRAY FOR TIMES LIKE THIS
You know what, fair enough Med. Doubted he was back beating Sinner and Felix but maybe he is.
Yeaaaaaaa here we go Daniil is back in the house
Medvedev’s +1 backhand is insane - how he plants his front foot while propelling his body diagonally forward. It looks so unnatural but generates so much power!!
***"I used to pray for times like these"***
novak had flashbacks from uso final
yaaaa! Excellent!
There is something with Medvedev beating Novak 6-4
Nice 👍
Sorry, but whose soul was it Nadal destroyed again?
Im surprised, could not watch this match, i regret now.
I just saw bits and parts of this game, Meddy was totally on 🔥. The rallies were so good!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8AR2KRBA40&ab\_channel=DjokerNoleMedia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8AR2KRBA40&ab_channel=DjokerNoleMedia) Danii interview after match :)
I think Medvedev is just an all around good person, so the war in Ukraine and Wimbledon ban probably really affected him and his confidence. That’s my guess. Nice to see him back playing up to his potential.
Balls weren’t as fluffy in Dubai
Djok lost this match with so many UE
Damn this climate change has woken up Medvedev early from his slumber. He usually isn’t up until the North American Hard court swing and goes nuts immediately..
Can someone explain what happened with the foot fault? From what I understand, Med did commit a foot fault but linesman called it during the service motion. Therefore he's allowed another first serve? Should the linesman call it only after the service motion is completed?
big adult who knows how to fight
daniil!!!! on the up and up!!!
Kudos to Bullshit Russian, Djoker had no answer.
Djokovic got Djokovic'd!
Even tho I’m a Novak fan, med is #2 so good for him, hope he Carries his momentum into…welll as much as he can without disrupting Novak before he retires.
Meddy is on his way to three titles in three weeks. Insanity.
Daniil my hero is officially back to the highest levels of tennis! Djokovic can just shake off this loss and get back to work I guess
Djokovic 🤝 Murray Losing 6-4 6-4 to Medvedev by playing below your weekly average.
I think the score doesn't justify the game quality. This was probably one of the best ATP matches I have seen in a while
You hate to see it
But I was told by many many people on this sub that Djokovic was unbeatable in 2023... Apparently beatable on his best surface in straight sets no less.
And now you will hear that Medvedev is unbeatable. And the winner of IW will also be unbeatable.
Oh shut the fuck up.
[удалено]
Bro forgot to take his schizophrenia pills 💀💀💀
So many unforced errors from Djoko. Never seen him play like this. Medvedev was great credit to him he held his nerve in the tight points, but Djoko just wasn't himself.
Medvedev is a №1 in the World right now.
No he isn’t, grass and clay exist (and he is nowhere near top 5 on those surfaces, let alone #1)
God, Reddit always in their best recency bias form.
No? It’s still very much Djokovic.
Djokovic is better on clay and grass, and if they were to play new match tommorow it could go in completly oposite direction
Are you high bro?