At times Novak Djokovic’s body language looked eerily similar to the US Open final a couple of months ago. Struggling to hit past the wall that is Daniil Medvedev, the Serb was being outplayed at his own game. However, even in those telling times, Djokovic smiled and applauded the Russian, sometimes more so than the crowd itself. Perhaps it was the acceptance of the fact that Medvedev couldn’t be beaten by playing his natural game that led to Djokovic’s numerous successful forays to the net. Eventually Djokovic took the match and the championship 4-6 6-3 6-3. With that he broke the tie with Rafael Nadal to stand alone with 37 Masters trophies.
Novak Djokovic vs Daniil Medvedev
The Match
If one didn’t know it was Paris, many would’ve thought this was New York all over again. Medvedev keeping a decent length on his groundstrokes and Djokovic missing trying to go for more. The whole first set Djokovic kept trying different strategies and even though he lost the set, it felt like he could control the game better from the second set. “I tried to read the patterns of his serve and the ball toss, maybe. I tried to look for the small details, because it was a match of small margins. He started better, broke my serve in the first game and I came back. He served the first set out pretty comfortably, but I felt as if I was there,” said Djokovic to Tennis Channel. Of course he was right; it always felt like he was there.
As impressive it was from Djokovic, Medvedev clearly showed us why he’s ranked No. 2 with his defense transcending mortality and his pinpoint accuracy matching the all-time-great Serb. “You can’t go through him. You have to find a way to play with controlled aggression, play the right shots at the right time and make him come in. It’s variety that wins matches against him,” said Djokovic, telling us all what a mighty challenge it is to beat Medvedev.
The Russian would’ve wanted to put up more of a fight in the third set. While the Russian was clearly frustrated with the Parisian crowd, at the end of the day he was outplayed by a much more relaxed Djokovic.
What’s Next?
Make no mistake, Djokovic is as steely as they come. But a “relaxed” Djokovic is even more dangerous. At the US Open he looked extremely stressed, which culminated in a breakdown during the third set–but in Paris, Djokovic found the perfect state of mind for the majority of the match. It’s not often you see Djokovic jogging around between points the way he was doing today and in doing so he may have realized beating Medvedev is more about being at peace with your mind rather than problem solving on court.
Both players head to play the ATP Finals in Turin and if they keep up this form, its anyone’s title. It’s a huge testament to Medvedev’s abilities that he can suffocate the best of them on court and the US Open 2021 champ looks the best suited to challenge Djokovic come Australian Open 2022. No matter what happens, this is a rivalry that has is cultivating its own charm and is slowly growing to be one for the ages.
Main Photo from Getty.
