How Djokovic beat Medvedev

The match between Djokovic and Medvedev only took place in three sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3, but lasted three hours and 17 minutes. 25% of match scores come after long rallies of nine or more racket hits. The first point in the match was 19 hits long, and the second point was 23 hits long. Djokovic won both of those points, but Medvedev's intentions remained unchanged. The Russian tennis player wants the final to be a battle of lungs and legs.

The match saw long balls averaging 6.3 rackets. For comparison, this number in the semi-final between Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz is 4.4 times, and in the Djokovic - Ben Shelton match is 4.2 times. In the final, Medvedev had to run 25 m for each score, while Djokovic had to run 26 m. These are all significantly higher distances than their previous matches in the tournament.

Right from the first points, Medvedev clearly demonstrated his stance of standing deep at the back of the field and not rushing forward. In tennis, there are very few matches where the number of ball series of 9 or more touches of the racket is greater than the number of ball series of 5-8 racket touches. Yesterday's final in New York was such a duel, created by Medvedev's resilient playing style.

In 54 long ball series of nine or more racket touches, Medvedev won 28, and Djokovic won 26. Medvedev's problem is that he is inferior to his opponent in balls of eight racket touches or less, winning only 68 matches. with 92 of the senior. In 47 long balls of 5-8 racket touches, Djokovic won 29 and Medvedev only won 18. In long balls of four racket touches or less, Djokovic won 63 and Medvedev won 50.

Djokovic adapted well to Medvedev's tactics. The Serbian tennis player must have felt like he had to play against a solid wall, so he went to the net often to finish the score quickly. This caused Medvedev to often play passing shots throughout the match.

While Medvedev did not serve the ball into the net once, Djokovic did this 22 times and succeeded 20 times. Considering the total points on the net, Djokovic won 37 out of 44 times, and Medvedev won 16 out of 22 net points.

After the match, Medvedev admitted that he lost to Djokovic because he was stubborn about returning serve. The Russian player should also have flooded the net more. In the 2019 US Open final with Rafael Nadal, Medvedev lost after five sets but was not much inferior in terms of position. At that time, he went to the net 74 times, won 50 points and achieved a rate of 68%. Medvedev also won 76% of the points in 29 serves at the net. When meeting Djokovic, the Russian player only crossed the net half as many times as his opponent, and did not serve the ball to the net once. This prevented him from creating enough pressure and allowed Nole to freely play his own way.

In most recent confrontations, including Medvedev's victory over Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final, the Russian tennis player was not inferior to his senior in the left shot. Therefore, Djokovic focuses more on cross-court forehands with his juniors in rally series. Medvedev needs quality forehand shots down the line to avoid falling into this position, but he couldn't do that many times in the final.

Djokovic's forehand is currently Djokovic's strongest point, bringing him success at the Australian Open as well as Roland Garros this year. In the match against Medvedev, Nole's number of winners was the same as his opponent's, but he caused his opponent to make 40 unforced errors from this shot, compared to 28 of himself. On the left shot, Djokovic missed 29 times and Medvedev missed 32 times.

Djokovic's winning percentage from the back of the court is 48.8% (59/121), while Medvedev's is 38% (52/137). Medvedev's failure to change his playing style made him worse in the third set, when his opponent caught up and had a psychological advantage thanks to winning two sets first. The 27-year-old player only won 27.6% of points from baseline in the third set (8/29), falling behind Nole.

Medvedev wanted to wear down Nole's strength through persistent series of balls, but he could not keep Nole in the match for more than three sets. In the second set, the Russian player had a chance to win but could not take advantage. Thanks to reasonable play and good adaptability, Djokovic defeated a conservative Medvedev to win his 24th Grand Slam.