It will be Daniil Medvedev who will challenge Novak Djokovic in the final of the US Open 2023. A final that seemed already written, as in Wimbledon and Cincinnati, between Djokovic and Alcaraz, but more than one person had not dealt with Daniil Medvedev well.
The Russian tennis player absolutely did not want to lose for the third time in a season to Carlos Alcaraz and, thanks to a tactically incredible match, he gave himself the chance to eliminate the reigning champion, as well as being able to play the prestigious final in New York on Sunday against Novak Djokovic.
In the press conference, the Russian talked about the match, about Alcaraz and abiut Djokovic.
Medvedev explained: “Playing against Novak Djokovic is not always the same. It is always better than the previous time he plays. For example, I beat him in the final of the US Open, but he beat me in Bercy in a beautiful match. Carlos Alcaraz he beat him at Wimbledon, and he beat him at Cincinnati.
Novak will be at his best on Sunday and I have to be the best version of myself if I want to try to beat him. I’ll think next Monday he’ll be No. 1, so it’s like I would play that. But I don’t really know why this statistic is there, I don’t think it has anything to do with what happens on the court. Like I said, on Sunday I don’t care if it’s number 1 or number 2. It’s Novak Djokovic and I want try to win!”
Medvedev talked also about his win over Alcaraz
On the win against Alcaraz, the Russian said: “It was great, because there were some points that I lost, but after each one I thought: Wow, I hit some really difficult balls! I thought: Okay, that’s good. it means that at the next point I can do the same. He could miss it or I could make a better shot. I was in the box and when I’m there I’m a great defender.
I run well, although there were some moments where I should have started to run faster, sometimes you tend to look at what the opponent is doing. But against Carlos he is dangerous because he plays so fast, the drop shots are so fast that you don’t have time to look. Every time I looked and I was slow I thought that I should have done better the next time. I succeeded.
If I lose on Sunday, it will remain a good tournament but I will be damned disappointed. Tennis is like that. I hope I still have many years of my career ahead of me and know that I am capable of winning on a big stage. Each time you have these victories, you gain more confidence and understand that you can win again. But the most important thing is to use it and at the same time forget about it to move forward.”