World's fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev failed to reach the Wimbledon final again. Just like last year, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz confidently beat the Russian.
Events unfolded according to a similar scenario to last year. A year ago, the semi-final between Alcaraz and Medvedev lasted less than two hours and was a one-sided affair. This time, the tennis players spent almost three hours on the court, but Daniil was only able to put up a serious fight in the first set.
Both tennis players had a hard time entering the match. In the first game, both Daniil and Carlos gave away two games on their serve, were not entirely confident when they approached the net and made unforced errors, to which Medvedev added three doubles. With the score 5:3, Medvedev served for the set, but gave up his serve. The tennis player began to reprimand something to the judge. It seemed that Medvedev's aggression would benefit Alcaraz, who fought back and sent the set into a tiebreaker. But at the decisive moment, Daniil pulled himself together, and in the decisive game he gave only one play to his opponent.
In the second set, Alcaraz became more confident on the first serve (in the first set, he made more mistakes than he hit the first ball), attacked more sharply and looked more confident than at the beginning of the match. At the same time, it cannot be said that Medvedev did not play at a level. Carlos simply became his usual good self — he accurately hit the corners with his forehand, pulled the balls from any point of the court, and even the net rope repeatedly favored the Spaniard.
Alcaraz naturally seized the initiative and led without giving a single serve in the second and third games. Medvedev had to bite into every rally — with such resistance, any point was difficult. The Spaniard started the fourth set with a break. It seemed that Medvedev had no chance, but the Russian responded with a reverse break.
Everything was decided in the seventh game of the fourth game. Medvedev served well in the first rally, but immediately gave away three points in a row and gave his opponent two break points. Alcaraz did not forgive. On the second attempt, the Spaniard made the most important break and calmly brought the match to victory, closing the game on the first match point.
Grand Slam tournamentsWimbledon ATP July 12, 2024 • starts at 15:40FinishedDaniil MedvedevRussia1: 37:63:64:64:6Carlos AlcarazSpain
Alcaraz was ready for Medvedev’s bet on long rallies. The Russian tried to escalate, went to the net, hit short shots, but the opponent’s game proved his claims to the status of the first racket of the world. In the final, the Spaniard will play against the winner of the match Novak Djokovic — Lorenzo Musetti and at the age of 21 he can become a two-time winner of Wimbledon.
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“Medvedev dominated the first set, he played great tennis,” Alcaraz paid tribute to the Russian in an interview after the match. — I tried to be calmer in the second game. I moved well, timed my shots, and it worked. I knew that there would be long rallies, I tried to lure him to the net and dribble.”
Medvedev has no trophies yet in the 2024 season. Usually, after Wimbledon, you can return to the Russian’s favorite hard court and prepare for the US Open, the only Grand Slam tournament that Daniil won. But this season the Olympics made their own adjustments. The Olympic tennis tournament will be held on clay courts at Rolland Garros, so switching from grass to hard courts and then playing on clay again would be completely illogical.
At the same time, there will only be three games between the Olympic tournament and the US Open weeks. I would like such a chaotic and rapid change of surfaces this season not to affect the level of Medvedev’s play in the traditionally strong second half of the season.