Take away the rowdy, disruptive New York crowds that fueled Daniil Medvedev’s villainous run to the US Open final in 2019, and what do you get?
The same mind-bending tennis, apparently. Medvedev, the No. 3 seed in New York this year, has dropped just 29 games in four matches, and is now installed as the favorite to win the title after Novak Djokovic’s shock default on Day 7.
At the 2020 US Open, the enthusiastic New York energy is certainly missed, but not enough to distract Medvedev from the work at hand. Whether there are clamoring crowds or dead silence at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, at his core, Medvedev remains the same stoic apparition. He is a disruptive force that is dead-set on shaking up the status quo at the top of the game.
Sure, he’ll wax nostalgic about missing the crowd when reporters broach the topic. But deep down, one gets the feeling that nothing matters but the chance to take the next step in his burgeoning career.
“Actually it's really sad there is no crowd this year,” Medvedev said. “I think it would be funny to see if they would be cheering me on or not. Hopefully yes.”
Crowds. No crowds. Whatever. The externals don’t really matter to Medvedev, who points out that he might have started as the villain last year in New York, but he finished as the darling of the US Open, the rough-and-tumble street fighter who turned the crowd’s vitriol into affection. He refused to quit even as the great Rafael Nadal tried to pummel him into submission in a truly thrilling five-set US Open final, and New Yorkers stood up and applauded his grit.
“That finally ended up well, like in romantic American movies,” a chuckling Medvedev pointed out to reporters after defeating American Frances Tiafoe, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0, on Day 8.
But the Russian’s game through four rounds at the 2020 US Open has been anything but a laughing matter.
For his opponents, it has been a nightmare.
“Medvedev makes you lose your discipline because of the way he plays,” says former ATP pro Nick Lester. “He’s so frustrating for a lot of players. You have to be able to stay dialed-in. A lot of players just don’t have the discipline to stay with him in terms of the way he plays.”
Lester, who is commentating on the US Open for Amazon Prime in the UK, says that Medvedev asks so many questions of his opponents, most of which cannot be answered.
“I think he breaks a lot of people down before they’ve even started,” he said. “He’s so durable, he’s so physical in terms of the way he covers the court. If you’re not willing to hang with him and walk onto court with him knowing that you may have to win multiple 25-, 30-shot rallies, it’s going to be tough.”
It has been tough.
Medvedev has sailed into the quarterfinals in New York, where he will face his friend and compatriot Andrey Rublev, a player that has known him ever since they were pre-teens. Back then, Medvedev invested heavily in the currency of the topspin lob because it was his most reliable shot and he could win with it as a junior.
“He was always one of the biggest fighters that I ever saw in my life, since he was, I don't know, seven years old,” Rublev said. “He could play lobs, maybe hours, just to win.”
Medvedev recalls it similarly.
“We were young, of course, so we hated to lose,” he said. “I was doing only lobs at the time, only lobs."
These days, Medvedev packs a much more diverse arsenal. Through four rounds he has held serve at a higher percentage rate than any other player, while also winning a higher percentage of return games than the rest of the remaining field.
His compatriot Rublev says that when you face Medvedev, you face the potential for death by a thousand cuts.
“His style of game is really, really unusual,” he says. “He forces you to play a little bit slower. He forces you to wait more, to play longer rallies. Many players maybe in one moment after one hour playing this type of game, type of style, they start to stress, they start to give up, they start to rush, they start to go for the shots, try to play shorter rallies, and in the end they miss more than they make.”
There is also an explosive element to Medvedev’s tennis, one that belies the unorthodox narrative.
“He’s got one of the biggest serves in the men’s game, it’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Lester says. “He can hold quickly and at the same time grind it out. He can make it so difficult for you.”
And therein lies the challenge for the rest of the men’s field: How to deal with a player that is part octopus, part gazelle, and 100 percent committed?
One year after his tempestuous, crowd-whispering near-miss in New York, Daniil Medvedev is back to add another chapter to the page-turner that hit its stride in 2019. And this year, he’s armed with experience.
“I think the main thing I learned is that I'm able to play in a Grand Slam final against one of the best tennis players in the history of the sport, being in his top shape,” said Medvedev, of his performance against Nadal in the 2019 final. “I was very close to winning. I gave him a great fight.”
Will it be enough to take him to the promised land? Turn the page and you’ll soon find out.
