Novak Djokovic has 24 Grand Slams to his name after defeating Daniil Medvedev in straight sets at the U.S. Open. That sounds simple enough. It wasn’t. In the city that never sleeps, the second set glittered like the watching A-list celebrities for almost an hour and three-quarters.
It wasn’t quite on the level of that filmic second set in the Wimbledon final. However, once the electric current was tripped by the Serb, darkness fell onto the match. Medvedev fell to the ground in the third set. The path to an epic had been shut down by the power source of one man’s mind.
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, kisses championship trophy after defeating Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, in … [+]
New York and neutrals had pencilled in a different final a fortnight ago, but Medvedev found his beast mode on Friday to deny the hottest ticket in town. Djokovic v Medvedev 2 isn’t quite the sequel to salivate over. Ever since Carlos Alcaraz invaded his Wimbledon Empire like a prince of thieves, the Serb has entered into a new phase of clinical precision. Talk of retirement within the family (thanks, Dad) has been knocked back. Djokovic is rolling forward with new energy and that ‘36 is the new 26’ vibe.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman and the Hollywood set sat down to a main course with a maverick actor, Medvedev, on the other side of the tracks. The only issue with the talented Russian, or he of no nationality – is his Grand Slam record in finals. It’s now one win in five. The self-deprecating lines are authentic, as Djokovic recognises, but so is the 27-year-old’s second-best status in big matches.
The notable exception to that record is the world number three’s victory over Djokovic on the same court in 2021. On that occasion, the 6 foot 6 inch Moscow skyscraper towered above the same opponent. The Serb ended the match in tears, unable to compute the situation with a mind that was scrambled by the weight of history. His shot at edging one step ahead of Nadal and Federer was too much. He is now on course to be a whole 52nd Street ahead of both.
For most of a functional first set, all the big rallies and lines were being stolen by only one man. Medvedev played like a respectful gorilla, turning away from confrontation. Djokovic didn’t even serve that well, but it didn’t matter. He reduced his victim to a one- note ball spitting machine. The tall Muscovite was standing way back beyond the baseline and might as well have given his racquet to the crowd. This was a ghost of the player who had reduced Alcaraz to an intemperate young twentysomething.
Then something triggered this routine medley into a raucous musical. There was a point in the seventh game of set two where Djokovic collapsed after a 31-shot rally. He lost it. The crowd were no longer slumped back into the seats. Cue a mini-crisis with the full routine of wobbling Djoker: the imbalance; the double faults; the lack of timing; coming off shots; and the animated exhaustion. Yet Medvedev stared towards this suddenly mortal body as if he didn’t want to kick the guy while he was down.
Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, gives a thumbs up after falling during the men’s singles final of the … [+]
There were some worrying signs that a final step might be too much to ask immediately after Medvedev’s superb win over the Spaniard. When he was interviewed on court by Mary Jo Fernandes, the third seed was already thinking about how to beat the immovable object, alluding to the fact that he had one major title and his opponent 23. He said it again in defeat. ‘The Octopus’ needed his full metal jacket for this match-up and only brought his legendary deadpan humour instead.
New York may have let out a little sigh that it didn’t get the party that Wimbledon (and Cincinnati) enjoyed between the two best players in the world, but for those 104 minutes there was a tantalising prospect that things would roll well into the night for an after party. Ultimately, the Russian was simply too passive to fully engage with his role on this night. A 3-0 scoreline underlined that a Djokovic on the ropes is almost an illusion, a trick of the light that lures opponents into a mental trapdoor.
Within two months of that painful Wimbledon defeat, Djokovic has changed the whole outlook of what is possible again. While Alcaraz freely admitted that he didn’t have the maturity to deal with the way things went in the semi-final, Djokovic is a fully licensed expert in crisis management. He always finds a way unless the opponent takes him head on-with pistols and panache. Last night, Medvedev played the victim even when he was on top. That never ends well.