Australian Open 2021: “I got a little bit scared and tight,” Daniil Medvedev after his SF win
World no.4 Daniil Medvedev defeated arch-rival Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his 1st Australian Open final. The Russian totally outplayed his Greek counterpart with his textbook-like performance in the Rod Laver Arena.
He was on the front foot right from the word go and maintained his top level for the most part the match to win the match 6-4, 6-2, 7-5. The World No. 4 landed 46 winners, compared to just 21 unforced errors, and won 88 per cent of his first-serve points (49/56) en route to victory.
He is now on a 20-time winning streak. Across his 20-match winning streak, Medvedev has defeated 12 Top 10 players. The Russian’s most recent loss against a Top 10 opponent came at last year’s US Open, when he fell to eventual champion Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals.
“It is he who has all the pressure”: Daniil Medvedev on Novak Djokovic
“It was definitely not easy, because we saw the match with Rafa was kind of the same score after two sets. [In] the third set, Rafa was dominating but didn’t manage to win the match, so I got a little bit scared and tight,” said Medvedev, in the post-match interview.
“It is the semi-final of a Slam… It was not easy, but I am happy I managed to switch my game on, especially in some tight moments on my serve and I am really happy to be in the final.”
Medvedev has been on a dream run, winning the Paris Masters and ATP Finals last year. He followed it up with a ATP Cup win for Team Russia where he was undefeated.
When asked about his run, he said: ”I don’t have an answer [to explain my run]. I was just working hard all my life and I am really happy at this moment. It is going to stay with me… It is a great achievement.”
“He was tired after the match with Rafa… During today’s match, I saw that as soon as I was moving him around the court, it was not easy for him,” he said about Tsitsipas. “As soon as I saw that in the first set, that became my strategy straight away.”
Medvedev will face 17-time grand slam champion, Novak Djokovic in the final. Djokovic has played 8 finals on the Rod Laver Arena and has won all 8 of them.
On facing Djokovic, the Russian said: ”I like that I don’t have a lot of pressure, because he never lost in the eight times that he was here in the final”
“It is he who has all the pressure, getting to Roger and Rafa in the Grand Slam [leaderboard]. I just hope that I am going to get out there and show my best tennis. As we have seen, I can beat some big names if I play good so that is the main part. He has more experience, but he has more things to lose than me.”, he concluded.
Lakshya Chopra
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