“Pressure Is A Privilege”

Legit champion or too much pressure on Novak? Novak’s series of negative emotions might convince you to believe that Medvedev was not the only obstacle hurting him during the championship match. Even with the crowd heavily pro Novak, he was unable to use it to his advantage. All tournament long, Medvedev was clear with his intentions of stopping Novak from achieving his 21st major slam and the grand slam, something that hasn’t been accomplished in the men’s game in the past 50 years. This was last accomplished by the one and only Rod Laver.

The Serb claimed before the match, "I'm going to put my heart and my soul and my body and my head into that one. I'm going to treat the next match like it is the last match of my career." Toward the later stages of the match, Medvedev seemed to have the upper hand with regards to movement and energy on the court. The Serb was unable to solve the Medvedev serve until down 2-5 in the final set.

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How was Medvedev able to win in such a convincing manner? Medvedev’s quick style of play seemed to give him a dominant advantage over Novak as he provided Novak with little time to think about where Medvedev was going to serve. Even with Novak being one of the top returners in the game, he only managed to break the Medvedev serve once. Medvedev managed to win 80% (41-51) of his first serve points and 58% (22-38) of his second serve points. He also managed to convert 50% (4-8) of his break points, truly turning the match in his favor.

In short, this is likely not the last time we will see Novak in a major final and though there was a heavy load of pressure on the shoulders of the Serb, Medvedev truly deserves this one!