Daniil Medvedev left Melbourne in January having suffered one of the most painful defeats of his life. As he continues his pursuit of an elusive second Grand Slam title, Medvedev battled for more than 24 hours and played brilliant tennis across seven matches at the Australian Open, finishing two sets ahead of Javier in the final. Nick Sinner. Then everything fell apart.
Since then it has been a challenging season for the Russian, who has not won a title at any level for 14 months, but on Tuesday the 28-year-old achieved victory on his favorite hard courts One of the biggest wins of my career. In a tense four-hour duel with the sick sinner (now world No. 1), Medvedev mustered up his courage to win 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 2- 6, 6-3 and a return to the Wimbledon semifinals for the second consecutive year.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match if I wanted to beat Jannik,” said Medvedev, seeded fifth this year. “He’s not an easy guy to beat anymore, and I even had a moment where I felt like he wasn’t feeling good. But I knew that might go away. [from me], and then he started playing better. I’m happy that I’m still playing at a high level.
Medvedev, a self-proclaimed hard-court specialist for most of his career, has always strived to improve, and his performances at Wimbledon over the past two years are testament to how hard he has worked to improve his weaknesses. The victory marked Medvedev’s first top-10 finish on grass since his breakthrough victory over Stan Wawrinka in the first round at Wimbledon seven years ago.
“This is the first time I’ve won two matches on Center Court at Wimbledon,” Medvedev said with a smile. “Normally, I either win one or zero, so that’s a record.”
The 2024 tennis season puts Medvedev at a fascinating point in his career. Over the past few years, against all expectations and against all odds, he has become the leading player of his generation, winning breakthrough Grand Slam titles and reaching world No. 1. The pursuit of two Grand Slam titles is extremely difficult. While Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal no longer dominate every major tournament and the tournaments are more open, he now risks being overtaken by a new generation.
There is so much history between them and so much at stake, and the two players were sharp from the start of their 12th meeting. They served very efficiently throughout the set, and there were no break points in the tie-break. Beyond the grueling, all-consuming standoffs in the tiebreak, including a tortuous 33-shot standoff at 2-1, both players struggled with nerves. In the end, Sinner handled the moment better and Medvedev double faulted while trailing on set point to give up the first set.
To his credit, Medvedev responded immediately. He broke Sinner’s serve at 1-1 and quickly tied the score with his own serve. By the time Medvedev broke serve to take the lead in the third set, Sinner was already in trouble. The 22-year-old called in his coach, who took his temperature and provided treatment off the field.
After the game restarted, Medvedev maintained his breakthrough and continued to put pressure on Sinner’s shoulder, and Sinner continued to walk carefully between points. But when Medvedev stepped up to serve for the set at 5-4, he made a series of errors to regain serve. Starting from the third set’s service game, Medvedev soon faced two set points at 5-6 on his own serve, and Sinner swung the ball harder and harder to shorten the score. However, Medvedev got through it and performed well in the third set tie-break.
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“It’s always tricky because you want to score more points and make him suffer more – in a good way,” Medvedev said of his ailing opponent. “At the same time, you know he sometimes says, ‘Well, I can’t run anymore, so I’m going to give it my all.'” That’s what he did, and he got set point in the third set. In a way, I may not want this to be the case, but as long as it ends well, everything is fine.
Even as Sinner went on the attack and broke Medvedev’s serve in two consecutive games to easily take the fourth set, the Russian remained unusually calm. He went on the attack early in the fifth set, breaking serve early and then refusing to relinquish his serve. Despite 11 double faults and shaky serving at certain times, Medvedev was solid when he needed to be as he moved forward.
