Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev lost in the final of the US Open Serb Novak Djokovic in three games. Thus, the Russian was unable to repeat his success two years ago, when he won his first and so far only Grand Slam title in a duel with the same opponent. Djokovic now has 24 of them in his collection.
Serbian greatness The US Open was held in New York from August 28 to September 10. This was the final Grand Slam tournament of the season. Tennis players from Russia and Belarus performed there in a neutral status — the names of their countries were not indicated in the official protocols, and during the award ceremony there was a Serbian flag on the court, but no Russian one.
Two years ago, Medvedev made Djokovic cry. The Serb had a chance to achieve a result that few in tennis have achieved — to win the calendar Grand Slam. To do this, Novak had to win only one match — against Daniil. But the Russian tennis player played incredible quality tennis in the final of the 2021 US Open, not allowing the Serb to win the match — without giving him a single set. And tears appeared in Djokovic’s eyes even before the end of the match — when he realized that he had no chance.
Djokovic cried even now. But only after that, with amazing composure, without betraying a single gesture of joy, he went to the net, where he accepted congratulations from Medvedev on his 24th career victory in a major. Djokovic did not qualify for the calendar Grand Slam this year, since he lost in the final to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon. But, nevertheless, the Serbian’s success in New York allowed him to equal the absolute record holder for the number of victories in major tournaments — Australian Margaret Court. And if we take into account only the results shown in the Open era, when amateurs and professionals were equal in rights, then Djokovic is now the best — he has surpassed American Serena Williams with her 23 titles.
Medvedev had a chanceMedvedev, after winning the semi-finals over Alcaraz, said that he played 12 points out of 10 in that match. After Djokovic began to act with colossal concentration and maximum spirit from the very first draws, it became obvious that this indicator was for the Russian victories will need to be surpassed. It was not possible to do this in the opening game — the Serb took Daniil's first serve and confidently brought the set to victory — 6:3.
But in the second segment of the match, Medvedev managed to noticeably improve. In the middle of the game, after a series of long rallies, it seemed to many that Djokovic had problems with his health — he was clearly dragging out the pauses between serves, once dropped the racket from his hands, and after one of the protracted exchanges of blows, exhausted, he lay down on the court, breathing heavily. Daniil was very close to success, earning a set point in the end. But the 36-year-old Serb, who has gone through a lot of similar crises, got out of it this time too. He won back the set point, and in the tiebreaker he managed to come back from a score of 1:3 and still finished the game in his favor 7:6 (7:5).
Before the third set, Djokovic had the opportunity to freshen up — and he showed no further signs of fatigue. Medvedev, clearly lamenting the missed opportunities, played without fire. Perhaps when the score was 2:5, when it seemed that the Russian tennis player had no chance, he clung to his serve and then gave Novak a fight on the return. And yet it was Djokovic's day — taking the set 6:3, he brought the US Open final to victory, ending it on the very first match point.
At the award ceremony, Medvedev paid tribute to his opponent, whom he had known since his first steps in professional tennis — as you know, Djokovic helped Daniil when he was still far beyond the top hundred in the world rankings. “It seems to me that I have a great career, but I have 20 championship titles in regular tournaments, and you have 24 Grand Slam titles,” Medvedev said with both laughter and sadness on his face, and then, with the same mixed feelings, complained that he had not was able to triumphantly congratulate his wife on their wedding anniversary, as he did two years ago.
However, Medvedev's performance at the US Open can be considered a significant success. The US Open final is his best result at a Grand Slam this season. And the victorious match with Alcaraz, the current first racket of the world, according to many experts, became one of the brightest in his career. Among the results of the remaining Russian tennis players in the men's singles of the US Open, Andrey Rublev reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Medvedev.
Other results: American Cori Gauff won the women's section of the US Open. This is the first Grand Slam title in this athlete's career. In the final, the sixth racket of the world prevailed over second-seeded Arina Sabalenka from Belarus — 2:6, 6:3, 6:2. It is noteworthy that this season, four “majors” had different champions — Sabalenka won the Australian Open, Iga Šwiatek from Poland became the winner of the Paris Roland Garros, and at Wimbledon the strongest was Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic.
Among Russian tennis players, the best result in singles was shown by Daria Kasatkina, who reached the fourth round. There, the country's first racket lost to Sabalenka — 1:6, 3:6. It was not possible to create the same sensation as at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the opening of the current season, Mirra Andreeva. The young Russian tennis player reached the second round, but lost there without much resistance to the future winner of the tournament.
But the former second racket of the world and finalist of the 2010 US Open Vera Zvonareva achieved an excellent result. The 39-year-old Russian, together with German Laura Siegemund, reached the final in doubles. However, there the Russian-German duo lost to Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Rutliff from New Zealand — 6:7 (9:11), 3:6.