“It’s completely her tournament,” Daniil Medvedev amazed by Serena Williams’ popularity at the US Open, feels she has overshadowed Rafael Nadal
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Serena Williams and Daniil Medvedev
World No. 1 and the defending champion Daniil Medvedev cruises into the third round of the 2022 US Open as he defeats France’s Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in yet another straight-set win on the Arthur Ashe stadium at the Flushing Meadows. Medvedev has looked solid so far in the two rounds that he has played and is justifying the odds on being one of the title favourites.
Daniil needed just 2 hours and 11 minutes to take care of Rinderknech serving 8 aces and 1 double fault while Arthur had 5 aces and 4 double faults. It was a disciplined performance from Medvedev as he did not lose his serve throughout the match saving 3 break points while converting 5 of the 17 breakpoints that he had at hand. Arthur hit 36 winners to Daniil’s 34 but the Frenchman also committed 50 unforced errors to Medvedev’s 20 that eventually became a big difference as Medvedev won with 108 points to Arthur’s 81.
“It’s New York, it’s Serena, icon, queen,”: Daniil Medvedev on Serena Williams’ stardom
Prior to Daniil’s 2nd round match, Serena Williams won her 2nd round match over World No. 2 and the 2nd seeded Anett Kontaveit in 3-sets to enter the 3rd round in what is believed to be the last tournament of her career. Medvedev talked about the greatness and the fan following of Serena in his press conference and in his candid manner explained what makes Serena’s retirement in New York extra special.
“It’s completely her tournament, in my opinion and it’s great. It’s like we have Rafa playing here with 22 Slams and at this moment it feels like, the attention is not him for which I think it is great for him that he plays the other night so that he gets all the attention. I watched the match and she played pretty amazing.The third set I watched a little less because I was going to warm up. Also after the second set that she lost, never know how the third is going to go. Straightaway she was there, playing great tennis.
“Really happy for her. Hoping to see what she can do at the end. The thing is, if she would finish in Australia or Paris, it would be amazing but it would not be the same. Here it’s New York, it’s Serena, icon, queen. You can find 35 amazing words in 10 seconds to describe her. So this makes it even more special. It’s funny because her first match I watched on the TV because I was in my room, the second match I was here but you are like in the stadium, so you don’t hear what’s going on.
“When I went out warming up, straight away everyone was like, ‘Wow, what’s happening there?’ Every point you know what’s happening. If it’s silent, the point is to the other girl. If it goes boom, then Serena won the point. It was easy to know the score every time. Yeah, it’s just amazing. I’m not sure I saw anything like this before,” said Medvedev in his press conference.
Medvedev will now take on Yibing Wu in the third round with the Chinese player coming into the third round with a straight-set win over 31st seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round followed by a 4-set victory over Nuno Borges in the second round. As for Serena, the 23-time major winner will take on Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.
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Sarthak Shitole
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