10/09/2023 and las 06:30 CEST
The same protagonists fought for the USOpen title in the 2021 final with the Russian emerging as the winner
If he wins, Nole would win his 24th Grand Slam title, two more than Rafa Nadal with his 22.
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. That’s what Novak Djokovic must be thinking on the eve of a new Grand Slam final. On September 12, 2021, Nole and Daniil Medvedev crossed paths at Flushing Meadows in search of the US Open title.
This Sunday, two years later, both opponents will meet again in the same situation but with different backgrounds. By then, The Russian tennis player was looking for his first crown in a major and swept the Serbian with a triple 6-4, 6-4 and 6-4.
Djokovic, for his part, was in search of the Grand Slam, or what is the same, adding all the ‘majors’ in the same course, something that only Rod Laver had achieved in 1969. After winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Medvedev punctured the bubble and avoided the Serbian’s plenary session. He missed what would have been his 21st Grand Slam title, with which he would have broken the tie with the other members of the ‘Bit Three’, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, all three with 20 crowns at that time.
To expand the legend
Two years later, Daniil still has only one great in his showcases, while Nole aspires to add his 24th and thus put more distance with Rafa Nadal, who has accumulated 22 and whose future at this time is more than uncertain.
This Sunday, at the Arthur Ashe in New York, Djokovic aspires to expand his legend, something he could not do last year due to the country’s anti-covid restrictions.
Medvedev aspires to avoid the ‘vendetta’ of the Balkan and repeat that feat that consolidated him as one of the greats of a ‘Next Gen’, which is not so new anymore.
The goal will not be easy and the Moscow tennis player is clear about how he should face the duel. “The only way I can use the 2021 final is by thinking that Novak, when he loses, is never the same again. So I have to use it knowing that it will be 10 times better than it was that day. And I have to be, if I want to beat him, 10 times better than I was that day,” he said after beating Carlitos in the semifinals.
For the Serbian, which will return to number one this Monday, may be one of the last options in your career. “I am aware that every final I play at my age could be the last and that I must make the most of it because this is like a gift,” she argued at the press conference after her semifinal.
This will be the fifteenth time their paths cross, with nine wins to five for Novakalthough in the last direct duel, in the last Dubai tournament, the victory went to the Russian (6-4, 6-4).