Alcaraz will not defend his title at the US! His conqueror Medvedev prepares for the final with Djokovic

Daniil Medvedev disrupted the hegemony of Alcaraz and Djokovic and advanced to the US Open final over the former. What did the Russian tennis player say about his performance and what will he build on in the final?

At this year’s US Open, the three highest seeded players met the paper requirements. Alongside the 2023 hegemons Djokovic and Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev also had a great showing in New York.

The Russian exceeded expectations even further, as he also defeated the number one seed and defending champion at the US Major, Carlos Alcaraz, in the semi-finals after an excellent performance.

Alcaraz’s missed opportunity

The Spanish tennis player has already achieved great things this year. At the US Open he had the opportunity to follow up the legendary Roger Federer. In the event of his triumph, Alcaraz would become the first player since Federer to defend the US Open. It didn’t.

Medvedev was an insurmountable obstacle for him on Friday. The Russian more than accomplished what he set out to do before the semifinal duel. That was to play for 11 points out of 10. Medvedev, in his own words, played even better.

The semi-final thus fell prey to the Russian tennis player, who defeated Alcaraz in sets 7:6, 6:3, 1:6, 6:3 and is looking forward to the final match against Djokovic. And it won’t be the first big meeting between these two tennis players.

The historic 2021 final

Two years ago, the most famous match between the 27-year-old Russian and the Serbian record holder occurred. Novak Djokovic has broken many records and historic feats, but one of the biggest is still missing.

The Serbian doesn’t have a career grand slam in his collection and he has come very close. It was in 2021 that Djokovic missed the final step to complete his four wins at the majors when Medvedev stood in his way in the final.

The Russian didn’t give Djokovic a chance then, winning in three sets and winning his first Grand Slam title. His only one so far. He’ll try for a second in the same place and against the same opponent on Sunday. And just like against Alcaraz, he will be looking for a performance completely off the scale.

Finally..

We’ve already written about Medvedev’s ambitions and possibilities in this space. The Russian has done two things by reaching the US Open final.

Firstly, he has confirmed that he is incredibly strong on hard surfaces. In the spring he managed to reach the finals three times in a row on hard surfaces in very good tournaments. He won two of them, by the way, and the only one who could stop him in that period was Alcaraz.

Furthermore, the Moscow native proved that 2023 is the year when anything can happen. Let’s recall his triumph at the clay Masters in Rome. Winning the second Grand Slam of his career would certainly be a good match for his performance this year.

Source: US Open, Tennismajors