In the latest coming-of-age performance of a fortnight that has been full of them, Jack Draper maintained his seamless progress at the US Open to become the first British man to reach the semi-finals since Murray won the title in 2012. Yet to drop a set in New York, the 22-year-old marked his maiden appearance in Arthur Ashe Stadium with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Alex de Minaur, the Australian 10th seed, who was clearly hampered by a hip problem but never stopped fighting.

Draper likewise knows what it is to labour with injury, and as he sat at courtside afterwards removing the various straps and supports holding his battle-scarred body together, it was hard not to recall the various physical issues that have stalled his career, most notably when a shoulder injury forced him to miss Wimbledon last year. There was a brief scare here, too, when he called for the trainer early in the second set to get his right thigh strapped. But Draper has become accustomed to dealing with adversity, and his first act on returning to the fray was to batter down one of the 11 aces he produced on the day. 

“I’ve been working so hard for such a long time now,” said Draper. “Last year was a real turning point for me, when I had my injury setbacks and took a lot of time off over the summer because of my shoulder injury. 

“I had to watch all these young, amazing players winning amazing tournaments and playing on the biggest stages in the world, and I felt like I just wasn’t doing enough to get to that point myself. 

“So this is not an overnight thing for me. I’ve believed for a long time that I’m putting in the work and doing the right things, and I knew that my time would come. I didn’t know when it would be, but hopefully from here I can do a lot of amazing things.”

Draper’s progress to this point has certainly been remarkable. When the fortnight began with the British southpaw still smarting from the controversial conclusion to his win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in Cincinnati, where a double bounce went unnoticed by the chair umpire, few would have anticipated Draper emerging from a quarter headed by Carlos Alcaraz, the French Open and Wimbledon champion. But the Spaniard’s shock second-round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp, combined with Hubert Hurkacz’s exit at the same stage, created an opportunity that Draper has gleefully embraced, dispatching Van de Zandschulp and Tomas Machac with minimal fuss before claiming the fourth top-10 win of his career against De Minaur. 

Naysayers will point out that none of those opponents came close to doing themselves justice, and that is true. Van de Zandschulp suffered a mental and emotional letdown following his win over Alcaraz, Machac’s game crumbled as rapidly as his composure, and De Minaur’s fleet-footed movement, perhaps his most dangerous weapon, was clearly compromised as he continues to manage the fallout from the torn hip cartilage that forced him to pull out of Wimbledon. Draper is sure to face a sterner test against Jannik Sinner, with whom he shares a close friendship, after the Italian world No 1 later saw off Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to book his place in the last four. 

Yet you can do no more than beat the player on the opposite side of the net, and Draper has met every challenge he has faced with composure and maturity. That was particularly true of his tussle with De Minaur, where he avoided the pitfall of abandoning his gameplan in favour of trying to capitalise on his stricken opponent’s injury. There was a brief moment of crisis for Draper when, having held break points that would have given him a 5-2 lead in the second set, he instead found himself serving to stay in it at 4-5. To his credit, though, he immediately steadied himself to see out the set and, in short space, the most important win of his career.

“It is a challenge playing someone who maybe isn’t 100%,” said Draper. “Towards the end of the first set, I didn’t know that he was struggling with injury, but I definitely noticed he was a bit subdued. That made me realise he maybe had something slightly wrong, but then again maybe I was hurting a little bit as well. So it was a bit of a strange situation.

“I definitely felt in the second set I had a few opportunities, and it was there for me to take the set pretty early on, but I didn’t. I think part of that was to do with maybe focusing on myself too much, and not realising what was going on the other side of the court. 

“It’s tough, you know, I was playing someone who moves still pretty well and was making balls. It was kind of difficult to play the way I wanted to play, I started becoming more passive and was playing for him to miss instead of the playing the tennis that I’m supposed to be playing, which is to be aggressive, to be on the front foot.”

Whatever happens over the next few days, Draper is certainly on the front foot now. Comparisons with Emma Raducanu, whose surprise run from qualifying into the main draw culminated with a shock title win three years ago, are inescapable. As Raducanu would be the first to admit, however, the sport moves on; her title run is old news. British tennis has a new leading light – and, like Murray before him, Draper is forging his own path.

The post Draper defeats De Minaur to reach US Open semi-finals appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Sure enough, with the tennis world braced for the next chapter in the burgeoning rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, up popped Medvedev, the disruptor-in-chief of the men’s game, to rewrite the script. On an afternoon when Sinner struggled with illness, Medvedev came through a turbulent five-set battle with the Italian world No 1, prevailing 6-7 (7-9), 6-4 ,7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club for the second year in a row.

After losing five straight matches to Sinner, not least January’s Australian Open final, it was a restorative victory for the former US Open champion, who has been in danger of losing ground at the top of the men’s game after failing to win a trophy in 14 months and losing each of his past five matches against opponents ranked in the world’s top five. 

Three of those top-five defeats have come against Sinner, who had not won a match against Medvedev in six attempts before beating him last October in Beijing. For Medvedev, this victory was a reminder to his younger rival – and, perhaps, to Alcaraz, whom he will face in a repeat of last year’s semi-final after the Spaniard recovered from a set and a break down to defeat Tommy Paul – that he remains competitive at the business end of majors. 

“I lost five times to him, a lot of close matches and the last one [in this year’s Miami Open semi-finals] was super easy,” said Medvedev. “We’re going to play probably many more times if we are both on tour, probably semis, quarters-finals, whatever. 

“For me, it was important to just show [him], ‘I’m always going to be there, I’m always going to fight, I’m always going to try to make your life difficult. Maybe you’re going to win more, maybe I’m going to win more, I don’t know. But I’m going to fight.’ 

“Even if he won today, the goal was to show him that every time, I’m going to be there to fight and to win, and today I managed to do it.”

For Sinner, who edged a high-quality first set in a nervy tiebreak but then looked increasingly out of sorts, it was a harrowing experience. The 22-year-old took a medical timeout three games into the third set, by which time he was a break down, and had his heart rate taken as he sweated profusely and clutched his head. He subsequently trudged off court, flanked by a physio and a doctor, sparking real concern. 

After an 11-minute break in play, Sinner returned looking a little more sprightly, but the manner in which he slumped into his chair at the next changeover betrayed his continued physical struggles. He managed the situation beautifully, however, using a combination of drop shots, net rushes and huge forehands to shorten the points. After a series of unforced errors from Medvedev as he served for the set at 5-4, Sinner broke back, and even fashioned two set points in his opponent’s next service game. Medvedev held on, and subsequently went on to win the set on a tiebreak, but the Italian showed impressive resilience to recover, cantering through the fourth set to force a decider.

“I was not feeling great,” said Sinner, who revealed he had woken up feeling unwell. “I didn’t vomit. But I took some time, because I was dizzy quite a lot. Actually, off court I had a little bit the toughest time maybe.

“When I went back, I tried my best. Obviously disappointed about the third set, had a couple of set points, couldn’t use them. In the [fourth set] I raised my level a little bit, and in the fifth had just one poor service game, which decided the match.

“I was so surprised that I pushed the match longer. I retired a lot two years ago. I don’t want to retire if it’s only a little bit of illness or sickness or whatever. I was still in shape to play somehow. The fifth set I felt a little bit better again, the energy level was a bit up. 

“[But] today the energy level was not consistent. It was up and down. Like this, it’s also not easy to handle the situations on the court.”

That is especially true against a wily and ruthless competitive animal like Medvedev, who is never more dangerous than when he scents blood in the water. Ever the amiable Machiavellian, the 28-year-old admitted in his on-court interview that he wanted to make Sinner “play more points to make him suffer a little bit more” – “in a good way,” he added with a mischievous smile – but said it was difficult playing with the knowledge that Sinner would eventually be forced to go for broke. Now he will face Alcaraz, the defending champion, who rarely plays with anything less than free-hitting abandon.

“You know that whatever shot you hit, he can hit a winner from there,” said Medvedev, reflecting on the threat posed by the Spaniard’s “easy power”. “So you try to make his life difficult, you try to hit the shot as good as you can so maybe he goes for it and he cannot make it. 

“But that’s pretty special, because there are not many players like this. There are lot of players that if you play cross[court], there is less chance that he goes down-the-line winner etc. Carlos can do whatever, from any position – and that’s not easy to play against.”

Paul, the American 12th seed, can vouch for the truth of that analysis. After winning a marathon first set courtesy of a late break and then snatching a 2-0 lead in the second as his bold shot-making forced Alcaraz to overpress, the Queen’s Club champion appeared to have laid the foundations for another big upset. But Alcaraz found another gear, powering to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win to reach a second straight major semi-final, following his victory at last month’s French Open. If Medvedev is wary of the challenge that awaits, the feeling is mutual. 

“The most difficult thing about facing Daniil, or the most special thing about him, is he can reach every ball,” said Alcaraz. “He is like a wall. Every ball bounces back. I feel like I can hit an unbelievable shot, the ball is going to bounce back.”

The question now is whether Medvedev can rebound from last year’s semi-final defeat against the Spaniard to cause another big upset. As he demonstrated against Sinner, it is the kind of challenge he relishes.

The post Medvedev foils Sinner’s Wimbledon ambitions appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

If their Hard Rock Stadium rematch offered Sinner a yardstick by which to measure his progress since this time last year, it was one he used to administer the most brutal of cudgellings, a 6-1, 6-2 beatdown that leaves the 22-year-old Italian within one win of dislodging Carlos Alcaraz as world No 2. Through to his third final at Miami Gardens in four years, he will face Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday after the Bulgarian followed up his shock quarter-final win against Alcaraz with a 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 victory over Alexander Zverev.

As Sinner systematically dismantled Medvedev, it was hard to imagine that his defeat in last season’s final was his sixth in succession against the Russian. How things have changed in the interim. Since claiming a maiden win over Medvedev last October in Beijing, Sinner has won five in a row against the 28-year-old, beating him in Vienna, Turin and, most significantly, at the Australian Open in January, where he fought back from two sets to love down to win his first grand slam title.

The last of those meetings had a significant bearing on the early stages of their latest encounter as Medvedev, seeking to replicate the tactics that earned him a seemingly unassailable lead in Melbourne, adopted a more aggressive return position and tried to play higher than normal in the baseline exchanges. What he could not reproduce, in the face of a flawless exhibition of ball-striking from Sinner, was the same quality and consistency of shot he found in Australia. 

After conceding the first five games in just 27 minutes, barely avoiding a first-set whitewash, Medvedev altered his tactics, retreating behind the baseline to return as he sought to create the kind of trench warfare in which he specialises. It did little to stall the momentum of an opponent who has now prevailed in all but one of his 23 matches this season. 

“I played very solid today, especially in the beginning of the sets,” said Sinner. “Then, after, he missed couple of shots where usually he is not missing them. 

“Even if the difference is quite small from one player to the other one, if one plays a little bit better that day and the other player plays a little bit worse, sometimes the difference is big. Today it was like this. 

“But in the other way, you have to be careful, because the score is this one, but if he breaks me early in the first set, or if he breaks me with the break point he had at 2-1 in the second set, things are going to change.”

In truth, that never looked likely. Imperious on serve throughout, Sinner won 80% of the points behind his first delivery and an impressive 59% on the second, fending off all three break points he faced over the 69 minutes that Medvedev was able to detain him. Allied with his superior consistency – the official stats suggested Sinner made just three unforced errors to Medvedev’s nine, although the tournament had those figures at 12 and 22, which may have been closer to the truth – it proved an irresistible combination.

“My plan was to play aggressive kind of like in Australia, a bit more aggressive than I usually do, and it’s always a risk,” said Medvedev. “In Australia it worked well. Here, I was missing too much. 

“Before the second set, the question was, do I go back to playing my style or continue this way? Because if we saw Alcaraz against him in Indian Wells [it] was the same, 6-1, kind of easy, and then Carlos managed to step up and play better and beat Jannik. 

“I was like, ‘No, I want to try to do the same,’ and I didn’t manage to do it. [By the] time I decided to, let’s say, play my game, it was a bit too late.”

Thanks to the resurgent Dimitrov, Sinner will not need to go through Alcaraz this time around. The 32-year-old backed up his win over the Spaniard with another demonstration of quality and resilience against Zverev, his serve the bedrock of a performance awash with power, artistry and athleticism. Dimitrov attributes his renaissance to a rediscovered work ethic.

“I kept on believing, kept on doing the work,” said Dimitrov, who will return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018 next week. “I think the discipline brought me to that moment. There is nothing else.”

A semi-finalist in Shanghai and finalist in Paris towards the end of last year, Dimitrov has been knocking on the door at this level. He won his first title since 2017 at the Brisbane International in January and has earned his place back at the game’s top table. Sinner is under no illusions about the threat that lies ahead.

“He’s very, very talented physically,” said the Italian. “Really good shape. He has the talent to change things up on a tennis court because of the way he plays. He can stand back, he can go close. He has very, very good hand skills. He can do whatever he wants.”

It is Sinner who has become accustomed to doing whatever he wants in recent months. He will go into the final as an unbackable favourite, but if Dimitrov can reproduce the level that has brought three successive top-10 wins this week, a fourth is not out of the question.

The post Sinner demolishes Medvedev to make Miami Open final appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The 20-year-old Spaniard rounded off a renascent run at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells by defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 to retain the title he won against the Russian world No 4 last year.

The victory ends an eight-month barren run for Alcaraz, who had not lifted a trophy since defeating Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon last July. That breakthrough was widely hailed as a changing of the guard, but Djokovic gained revenge with an epic win in Cincinnati the following month, and this was Alcaraz’s first final since. There have been plenty of setbacks in the interim. Medvedev ended Alcaraz’s reign as US Open champion, while Alexander Zverev inflicted a quarter-final loss at the Australian Open. There were unexpected defeats to Roman Safiullin in Paris and Nicolás Jarry in Buenos Aires, and an alarming ankle injury at last month’s Rio Open. 

But Alcaraz has been back to his swashbuckling best in the California desert, avenging last year’s defeat to Fabian Maroszan in Rome, demolishing Zverev in straight sets, and ending Jannik Sinner’s 19-match winning streak in a heavyweight semi-final. Against Medvedev, he showcased the full range of his extensive repertoire, shrugging off a strangely passive start full of blocked forehands and one-handed sliced backhands to deliver a performance of spine-tingling power, athleticism and imagination. 

“It means a lot to me, lifting this trophy, winning this tournament, because I overcame a lot of problems in my head, a lot of problems physically,” said Alcaraz. “It was special for that, not [because] I didn’t win a tournament since Wimbledon. For me, it doesn’t matter. 

“It’s about the feelings. For me, if I win tournaments or not, I don’t care. It’s about enjoying playing tennis, once I step on the court, putting my game. It’s what only matters. That’s why I’m really, really happy to lift this trophy, because I found myself at this tournament, and I felt really good.”

That much was clear from his delight following a wonderful moment of extempore brilliance in the ninth game of the match. After haring forward to retrieve a drop shot, Alcaraz was still scrambling to recover a central position as Medvedev responded with a deep lob volley. The Spaniard rose to meet the ball, but his heels clicked together, limiting his elevation, and the ball sailed over his head.

At that point, most players would have cut their losses. But Alcaraz, his feet a blur, turned and gave chase before manufacturing the most improbable of lobs. The speed and balance were sensational, but so too was the technical improvisation, the Spaniard contorting his wrist to strike the ball with the wrong side of the strings, the back of his hand facing upwards. Medvedev made the overhead and moved in again, but seconds later Alcaraz applied the coup de grâce with a measured forehand pass. 

As he put a finger to his ear, drinking in the raucous acclaim from the 16,000 souls crammed into the world’s second biggest tennis stadium, a boyish grin broke across Alcaraz’s features. He has often said that smiling is the key to unlocking his best tennis, yet the habit has become less frequent in recent months. The joy has returned in Indian Wells, however, and with more title defences to come in the months ahead, that bodes well for Alcaraz, who was still beaming afterwards as he recalled the moment of impish virtuosity that defined his performance. 

“Honestly, I didn’t know what happened,” said Alcaraz. “I was about to jump and smash it. Something happened to my feet that I couldn’t jump. When something like that happens, you have to put one more ball in and just run to the next one. 

“That’s what I did. I put it in, it was a pretty good lob that Medvedev couldn’t smash in a good position. It gave me an opportunity to stay alive in the point.”

Medvedev threw his opponent a curveball in the early stages, earning an immediate break as he abandoned his usual deep return position to move closer to the baseline. Alcaraz too has been experimenting in this regard, retreating towards the backstop, and here too he initially stood deeper than normal. The role reversal made for a faintly bizarre spectacle but, as a first set of unrelenting intensity came to the boil, Alcaraz reverted to type, stepping inside the baseline, taking the initiative, forcing the play. 

“He managed in the first set at one moment to raise his level,” said Medvedev. “I managed to be there and to try to catch his level, but I was just a little bit down. In the end, this down was going down, down, down, and he was going up, up, up.

“Starting from the second set, he managed to play better and better, more passing shots. I don’t feel like I did something too wrong. So in my opinion, it was just that he managed to raise even more his level, and I got just a bit tired physically and mentally, and he managed to take advantage of it.”

The challenge now for Alcaraz will be to maintain that level at next week’s Miami Open and, beyond that, into the European clay-court swing, where he won titles in Barcelona and Madrid last year. After his fifth ATP 1000 success, however, he has every reason to look forward with confidence. The feelgood factor is back, records are tumbling again – only Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have a better win rate at this level – and, perhaps most importantly, the smile has returned.

The post Alcaraz defeats Medvedev to retain Indian Wells title appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Sinner, the 22-year-old Italian whose star has been rising rapidly since last summer, fought back from two sets to love down to survive a gruelling physical, mental and tactical test against Daniil Medvedev and win the Australian Open, the first grand slam title of his career.

It will surely not be the last.

With his 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory in three hours and 44 minutes, Sinner becomes, fittingly, the youngest player to triumph at Melbourne Park since Novak Djokovic, the 10-time champion whose reign he ended in the previous round, and whose style his own silken baseline game so closely resembles. Whether he can go on to colonise Melbourne Park in similar fashion is open to question; what is certain is that Carlos Alcaraz no longer stands alone as the sole grand slam standard bearer for a new generation.

“I like to dance in the pressure storm,” said Sinner, after making good on the intimations of greatness that have long attended his journey from teenage prodigy to major winner. “That’s where most of the time I bring out my best tennis. I’m quite relaxed on these occasions, because I always try to enjoy [myself] on the court.”

Enjoyment and relaxation are rarely emotions associated with the grand slam crucible, yet Sinner is no ordinary exponent of his craft. A final guaranteed to produce a first-time Australian Open champion ended, as so many points have at this tournament, with a blistering forehand from the Italian that his stranded opponent could only watch flash past. It confirmed the coming of age of a generational talent, although that prospect looked unlikely after an hour and 25 minutes, the time it took for Medvedev to establish a seemingly unassailable lead.

Having previously lost on the last Sunday at Melbourne Park to Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, against whom he held a two-set advantage two years ago, Medvedev gave everything to avoid coming out second best for a third time in four years. This was the first time in six major finals that he had not been confronted with either of those two giants of the game and yet, after spending 20 hours and 33 minutes on court in his previous six matches, still the odds appeared skewed in his opponent’s favour.

The received wisdom was that the 27-year-old would have too little left in reserve to contain the blossoming skills of a younger rival who had played almost six hours fewer. But Medvedev initially made a mockery of that analysis, playing closer to the baseline to take time away from Sinner, charging the net with abandon, shifting in from his normal deep return position to pressure the Italian’s serve, and lashing forehands with unprecedented force.

It was a masterclass in controlled aggression, a game plan far removed from the Russian’s normal attritional style, and for a time it looked as though the Italian fans who had arrived at Rod Laver Arena expecting a coronation would instead witness perhaps the greatest tactical coup in a grand slam final since Arthur Ashe outwitted Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1975. 

Seven months ago, in his first major semi-final, Sinner faced a similarly onerous challenge against Djokovic at the All England Club. He left Centre Court that day on the wrong end of a straight-sets defeat, but the Italian, whose only previous recovery from two sets to love down came against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics last year on Margaret Court Arena, has become a far more accomplished player in the interim, and there would be no repeat.

“I had this feeling that he might come out a little bit more aggressive,” said Sinner. “Not this aggressive. He played really, really well for the first two-and-a-half sets. 

“I tried just to play [at an] even level, trying to take a couple of chances in the third set, which I’ve done. When you win one very important game, the match can change occasionally, and that was the case today.  

“I just tried to stay as long in the court as possible, knowing that he has spent so many hours on the court. The more the match goes on, maybe physically I’m a little bit better today, because he played so many hours. I think that today that was the key.”

Broken early in each of the first two sets, Sinner began the third in a different vein, raising his level on serve and belatedly finding his range from the back of the court as Medvedev struggled to maintain his early intensity. When the Russian sent a forehand long to concede the set, Sinner looked down at the court and exhaled deeply before shooting a steely look up to his team, his fist clenched, his relief palpable. 

Relief soon give way to belief. Fifty-six minutes later, as Medvedev lunged in vain to retrieve another battering-ram forehand, confirming the need for a decider, there was a look of deep conviction in his eyes.

“I started to feel like, OK, I’m there, I can do it,” said Sinner.

Medvedev, meanwhile, contemplating a fourth five-set marathon in seven matches, was inevitably beginning to feel the weight of his fortnight’s labour. 

“I felt like in my mind I was still going full, but the body was a little bit worse,” said Medvedev. “Jannik right now he can play long rallies, he can stay there. If I would be 100% fresh physically, maybe with my coach we could decide before the match, look, I’m going to get into these rallies and let’s see who is stronger physically.  

“But I knew that today I’m not in this shape so I needed to make the points as short as possible. I knew there was still going to be long points, but I needed to make the points as short at possible, take his time, and it was working well. To be honest, I think it was working well until the end.”

By the time the final ball was struck, Medvedev had played 31 of a possible 35 sets over the fortnight, spent 24 hours and 17 minutes on court, and become the first player in the open era to lose two major finals from two sets to love up. After a monumental effort, it was a battery of unwelcome records that felt ill-deserved. 

“At least I got a record in something,” smiled Medvedev. “I’m in the history books for something. Let’s take it.”

With Medvedev waning, the coup de grâce was effectively delivered in the sixth game of the decider, where Sinner blasted a trio of immaculate forehands to convert the second of three break points. Within a quarter of an hour, he was collapsing joyfully on to his back, the first player in a decade not named Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer to claim the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.

Two months after leading Italy to a first Davis Cup win in 48 years, Sinner also becomes the first player from his country to claim the Australian Open title, and only the third Italian man ever to win a grand slam, after the former French Open champions Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta. 

In contrast with Alcaraz, whose breakthrough victory at the US Open at the age of just 19 was the work of a player almost fully formed from the outset, Sinner’s story has been one of incremental progress. It has taken time for his rangy physique to catch up with the brutal power of his ball-striking, just as it has taken time to acquire the mental toughness that turns an outstanding shot-maker into a champion. At this Australian Open, his time finally arrived.

The post Sinner beats Medvedev to win first major at Australian Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Perhaps that was the real reason the former US Open champion appeared to repeatedly mouth the word “Karma” to his team after the 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory that propelled him to a third Australian Open final in four years. Social media was afterwards rife with speculation that the 27-year-old was making an oblique reference to an episode of the Netflix series Break Point in which Zverev, angered by Medvedev’s antics during a narrow defeat in Monte Carlo last year, is shown responding gleefully to his Russian rival’s first-round loss at Roland Garros. Medvedev, however, was at pains to play down the suggestion that his post-match celebration was related to the episode. 

“It was something related to my team, something about mentality,” said the world No 3. “So nothing to do with this. I would not be happy to do it this way.”

That Medvedev should have felt compelled to comment on events incidental to the match was in a sense ironic, given all the focus beforehand on Zverev’s contrasting reluctance to speak about the broader context to his campaign in Melbourne. Confirmation over the past fortnight that Zverev will stand trial in Berlin this May on domestic abuse charges has brought unrelenting scrutiny on the German, who denies the allegations and has bristled when questioned on the subject. Asked if it had affected his concentration as he advanced through the tournament, the 26-year-old was once again forthright in his response. 

“No, because I have said it before: anyone who has a semi-decent IQ level understands what’s going on,” said Zverev. “I hope that most of you guys do. I’m fine with it.”

He was less fine with the stroke of good fortune Medvedev enjoyed at 5-5 in the fourth-set tiebreak. Attempting to slice back a return, Medvedev shanked it and inadvertently hit an unreachable drop shot. Zverev, who had double-faulted on the previous point, could only look on in dismay as his opponent then slammed down a 125mph ace to level the match. 

“Just purely unlucky,” sighed Zverev, who played down the significance of an earlier pause in play caused by Medvedev’s request for a replay of a close line call while the German was serving for the set. Medvedev did not disagree with his rival’s analysis. 

“Lucky, lucky,” said Medvedev, who will play Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final after the Italian earlier defeated Novak Djokovic, the defending champion. “The side was against the wind. I think I was tight, so I shanked it. Did I want to go, at least, short or no? I don’t even remember. Just tried to put it in, so I shanked it a little bit. It was not like a frame completely, but I didn’t play it with the centre. 

“But the moment I saw it going, I was like there are two ways: either it touches the tape and stays on my side, or it just kind of rolls over on to his side. I was like, ‘Please, be the second one, I want to win.’ And it was the second one. Tough luck for him, for sure, in this point. Managed to make an ace after, but that’s what tennis is about.”

After Nadal’s Houdini act of two years ago, it was perhaps a slice of – luck, karma, call it what you will – that Medvedev had coming. Whatever it was, he made the most of it. 

Zverev had earlier established a seemingly unassailable lead playing near-flawless tennis, just as he did to defeat Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round. The German’s determination to go forward at every available opportunity did not prevent him from becoming embroiled in some gruelling baseline exchanges, but it did help to terminate many of them. That was most notably the case at the end of the second set, where Zverev capped a 51-shot exchange with a superb backhand half-volley. A similar shot, this time off the forehand, gave him the platform to take a two-set lead.

Medvedev looked tired at that point, as well he might after coming back from two sets to love down to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori last week in a contest that raged until 3.40am. He was also taken to a decider by Hubert Hurkacz in the previous round but, having survived those travails, he was in no mood to squander the chance to contest a third final. In the fifth game of the decider, a stunning backhand pass brought up a break point; the anguish on Zverev’s face as he netted a plus-one forehand was plain.

“Mentally, 100%, I’m stronger than I was before this tournament, because now I know that I’m capable of some things maybe I thought I’m not,” said Medvedev. “Before [now] I didn’t do anything like this to get to the final. So mentally I’m stronger than before, and I’m happy about it. 

“Probably, honestly, it’s better to be in the final winning three-set, four-set matches. That’s the better way physically. But it is what it is, and I’m proud and looking forward to the final to give my 100% again.”

The post Medvedev foils Zverev to make Australian Open final appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

On a day at Melbourne Park that felt like it might never be over, those words were to acquire greater resonance than the Polish world No 1 could possibly have imagined.

When Swiatek fought back from the brink of defeat in the opening match in Rod Laver Arena, it seemed the day’s big story had arrived early. It has been three and a half months since the 22-year-old was last beaten and, although a tricky draw meant that run was always bound to come under threat at Melbourne Park, a second-round defeat would still have felt seismic. With two hours and 48 minutes gone, however, it seemed inevitable.

Having recovered from a set and a break down, Collins was 4-1 up in the decider and at her big-hitting best, her ferocious competitive instincts in overdrive as she nailed returns and crushed groundstrokes with the same force and fearlessness that overwhelmed Swiatek in the semi-finals two years ago. The Pole said then that she had never faced a faster ball on the match court and, while she has become a far more accomplished player in the interim, first-strike power and untrammelled aggression remain the surest way to discomfit her. As she trailed by a double break, the outlook seemed bleak for the top seed. Unperturbed, she reeled off five consecutive games to complete an unforgettable comeback that extended her winning streak to 18 matches.

“The only thing you can do is just try again,” said Swiatek after completing a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory in three hours and 14 minutes. “At that point you kind of know that you may lose. You can actually relax a little bit more because you know that, ‘OK, probably I’m going to lose, so I don’t care any more.’ Then it’s easier. Sometimes it works like that. But it doesn’t change the fact that I just kept trying.”

Having beaten a former champion and a former finalist in her first two matches, there is already an epic feel about Swiatek’s progress in Melbourne. “Thriller,” she wrote on a TV camera lens at the end; and a thriller it was. Yet, on a day that just kept going and going, it was also merely an hors d’ouevre.

By the time Elena Rybakina and Anna Blinkova arrived on Laver, Carlos Alcaraz had dropped his first set of the tournament before coming through 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, and Jessica Pegula had temporarily become the biggest casualty of the women’s draw, a  6-4, 6-2 defeat to Clara Burel of France marking the fifth-seeded American’s earliest loss since at a major in two and a half years. 

They had a lot to live up to, then, Rybakina and Blinkova. And over the two hours and 46 minutes that followed, they did not disappoint. In a contest of labyrinthine twists and turns, Blinkova variously led by a set and a break, held a 4-2 lead in the decider, served for victory at 6-5 only to be denied two match points, and then double-faulted to set up what the International Tennis Federation later declared was the longest singles tiebreak in grand slam history. 

Seeded third and expected to meet Swiatek in the semi-finals, Rybakina was regarded by many as the title favourite after demolishing Aryna Sabalenka, the Belarusian who defeated her in last year’s Australian Open final, at a warm-up event in Brisbane. But on an evening when she was below her best, the 24-year-old Kazakhstani could not quite match Swiatek’s feat of escapology. Her forehand, the source of 29 of her 46 unforced errors, repeatedly betrayed her, and although she battled to the end, Rybakina could not avert an upset. After saving nine match points and squandering six of her own, the former Wimbledon champion was edged out by the thinnest of margins in a 30-minute, 42-point thrill-fest of a tiebreak.

“This day I’ll remember for the rest of my life, especially on this court, with this crowd. I’ll never forget it,” said Blinkova, a 25-year-old Russian ranked 57th, following her 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) victory. “It’s the best day of my life so far. 

“It was super tough. I just tried to focus on every point. I had so many match points. I tried to be aggressive, but my hand was shaking – and my legs, too.”

By that point, Blinkova wasn’t alone. Even the most hardened tennis enthusiast had got their money’s worth. Nerves were frayed, eyes bloodshot and adrenaline exhausted. It was well after 11pm, Holger Rune had suffered a shock four-set defeat to Arthur Cazaux, a 21-year-old French wild card, and Daniil Medvedev, the third seed, was still waiting to start his match against Emil Ruusuvuori. 

But still the show went on. And on. And on. 

With Ruusuvuori flying, Medvedev, seeded third and a veteran of two finals, dropped the first two sets. Then, shortly after 1.30am, the redoubtable Russian began one of the finest comebacks of his career. Eventually, four hours and 23 minutes after the first ball was struck, Medvedev emerged with a 3-6, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 victory. It was 3.40am, and day five of the Australian Open had given way to day six of the Australian Open. Medvedev caught the prevailing mood perfectly.

“What is it, like, 3.40 in the morning? Honestly guys, I would not be here,” smiled the Russian, addressing the few hardy souls who remained. “Thanks for staying. If I would be a tennis fan and I would come, at 1am I would be like, ‘OK, let’s go home, we’re going to catch the end of the match on the TV. We’re going to catch 30 minutes and then go to bed.’ Thanks guys, you are strong. Strong!”

Whether such strength should be required is another matter. Before the event, new scheduling rules were announced that will ensure no match starts after 11pm without specific approval from the tournament supervisor. But those rules, which also dictate that matches not underway by 10.30pm should be moved to an alternative court, apply only to ATP and WTA events. The grand slams are free to do as they please; and at the Australian Open, where Andy Murray infamously completed a marathon win over Thanasi Kokkinakkis at 4.05am last year, what pleases the tournament may not be so agreeable to the players. 

On the eve of this year’s event, Murray responded with scepticism to organisers’ claims that starting the event a day early would minimise such late shows. “I don’t think the Sunday start will change the late finishes,” said the former world No 1 of a decision that always seemed more likely to benefit the tournament’s coffers than its players. He was, of course, right. In fact, spreading the first round of matches over three days rather than two created more problems than it solved, with Alex De Minaur among those unhappy about the extra rest afforded prospective opponents who played on the opening day.

More promising, in principle, is the decision to reduce the number of day-session matches on the two main show courts from three to two. Yet the unexpected rainfall that disrupted Swiatek and Collins after just six games, necessitating a pause while the court was dried and the roof closed, underlined the fact that nothing can be taken for granted. 

A little common sense would have helped. It was after 8pm by the time Blinkova and Rybakina started; why not simply move Medvedev and Ruusuvuori to another court once it became clear a third set would be required?

In a sport that never sleeps, late finishes have become ever more frequent. From Alexander Zverev clinching victory over Jenson Brooksby at 4.55am two years ago in Acapulco, to Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner battling it out until almost 3am at the 2022 US Open, and Rybakina prevailing at a similar hour against Daria Kasatkina at last year’s Canadian Open, the problem is clear. 

Clear, but not new. It is 16 years since Lleyton Hewitt completed a five-set win over Marcos Baghdatis at 4.34am in a match that remains the latest on record at the Australian Open. When will tennis learn that it’s not over until it’s over – and schedule accordingly? 

The post Rybakina tumbles, Medvedev rumbles on a long day in Melbourne appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Yet it is only 12 months since Djokovic arrived in Australia unsure of what to expect after the infamous deportation saga of the previous year, when he was sent home over his failure to comply with the country’s strict Covid regulations. Not only is the mental, physical and emotional resilience he showed to move past that moment of uncertainty and rewrite the record books too easily forgotten, it also goes a long way to explaining why, at the age of 36, the Serbian world No 1 remains the man to beat at Melbourne Park.

Lest we forget, this time last year, Djokovic had one grand slam fewer than Rafael Nadal, three less than all-time record holder Margaret Court, and was languishing at fifth in the rankings, 1,750 points behind Carlos Alcaraz, the youngest No 1 in history and freshly minted US Open champion. He was also nursing a 3cm tear in his left hamstring, suffered in Adelaide nine days before the Australian Open. He ended the fortnight level with Nadal and back at No 1; he ended the year equal with Court on 24 majors, having come within one victory of completing a calendar grand slam. 

So as Djokovic begins his quest to eclipse Court’s record against Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, a teenage qualifier ranked 187 in the world, he is unlikely to be losing much sleep over the wrist injury he suffered in last week’s shock United Cup defeat to Australia’s Alex De Minaur. That setback may have ended a 43-match winning streak on Australian soil, but injury and adversity have become almost par for the course for Djokovic, who won the title with an abdominal tear in 2021 and shrugged off the furore that erupted last year after his father, Srdjan, posed for photographs with pro-Putin supporters. 

“My wrist is good,” says Djokovic. “I had time, from the last match against De Minaur in the United Cup to my first match here, to recover. I’ve been training well. Practice sessions pain-free so far. It’s good. It’s all looking good. Let’s see how it goes.

“I’m just hoping I can start the season in a way that I have been starting most of my seasons throughout my career: with a win here in Australia, in Melbourne. My favourite place, no doubt the court where I’ve done great things and achieved my greatest grand slam results. 

“I hope that I’m going to be able to, if not play at the level that I did last year, then be very close to that, because that was one of the best tennis levels I’ve ever played here in Australia.”

A potentially challenging draw may well require Djokovic to reach such heights again. Andy Murray, his victim in four finals between 2010 and 2016, is a potential third-round opponent, as is the French veteran Gaël Monfils. All eyes would then be on a projected last-16 meeting with Ben Shelton, especially after the frosty conclusion to their US Open semi-final last year, when Djokovic mimicked the 21-year-old American’s signature “hang up the phone” celebration. Should the seedings hold, Stefanos Tsitsipas would then await in what would be a repeat of last year’s final – although first the Greek seventh seed must survive an eagerly anticipated opener against Matteo Berrettini.

From there, things could get complicated. Djokovic has never lost an Australian Open semi-final, but then again he had never lost to Jannik Sinner either, until two months ago. Sinner has since won two of their three singles meetings, first in the group stage of the ATP Finals, where Djokovic later exacted revenge to claim a record-equalling seventh title, and then at the Davis Cup, where the 22-year-old saved three match points to haul Italy level before partnering Lorenzo Sonego to a decisive doubles victory over Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic.

Those performances, and the decisive manner in which he subsequently led his country to victory over Australia in the final – crushing De Minaur, a possible fourth-round opponent in Melbourne, for the loss of just three games – have created a wave of expectation around Sinner going into the season’s first slam. Beaten by Djokovic in the first major semi-final of his career at last summer’s Wimbledon, is the rangy Italian ready to go a step further at the Australian Open?

“Obviously, it’s tough to say how the season will go,” says Sinner, whose opener against Botic van de Zandschulp on Sunday will be his first match of 2024. “At the end of the year, I played really good. I have still the confidence inside me, for sure. 

“In the other way, every season is different. Every tournament is different.”

It is not only Djokovic against whom Sinner has made inroads. A first win in seven meetings with Daniil Medvedev last October in Beijing was rapidly followed by victories over the Russian in Vienna and Turin, and he has also won his two most recent jousts with Alcaraz. The challenge now will be to translate the knowledge that he can beat the three men seeded above him into the hard currency of grand slam success. 

“Mindset is a key point in our sport,” says Sinner. “It gives you a good feeling when you lose so many times and then you win finally, because it shows the progress you’re making as a player.

“With Daniil, for example, I lost I think six times in a row, then I figured out that I can win against him if I play some good tennis. So let’s see. The mental part is really important. You always have to believe in yourself.”

Neither Medvedev nor Alcaraz should want in that department. Both men know what it is to defeat Djokovic in a grand slam final, Medvedev having done so at the 2021 US Open to deny the Serb a calendar-year grand slam, while Alcaraz consigned the Serb to his only loss at the majors last year, prevailing in an epic Wimbledon final. 

The Spaniard, who starts against Richard Gasquet and could face perennial thorn-in-the-side Tommy Paul ahead of a quarter-final against Alexander Zverev, who has won four of their seven previous meetings, would seem to have the trickier draw of the pair. For Medvedev, potential dangers lurk in the form of Felix Auger-Aliassime, who led him by two sets to love in the quarter-finals two years ago, Grigor Dimitrov, whose resurgent form continued as he lifted the Brisbane title last week, and Holger Rune, the eighth-seeded Dane whom he is seeded to face in the last eight. 

Should Alcaraz and Medvedev keep their anticipated semi-final appointment, it would be their third consecutive meeting at that stage of a slam. The Spaniard prevailed at Wimbledon, while Medvedev ended the younger man’s title defence at Flushing Meadows. Like Sinner, neither elected to play a warm-up event, preferring instead to take a longer off-season break. That makes it impossible to gauge their form but, should they cross paths, Alcaraz would no doubt take heart from his group-stage win over the Russian at the ATP Finals. By that stage, the relish he takes in facing Djokovic could also be a factor.

“It’s an extra motivation for me,” says Alcaraz of the Serb’s traditional dominance at Melbourne Park. “I’m an ambitious guy. I always want to play against the best players in the world to see what my level is. 

“Obviously, it’s a good test, playing against [Djokovic] in the tournament that he’s almost unbeaten [at]. I [am] looking for reaching the final, and hopefully playing a final against him. It would be great, obviously. Knowing those stats, it’s an extra motivation, for sure.”

Last summer, in the second chapter of a four-part rivalry that defined the season, Alcaraz ended a decade of dominance by Djokovic on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. Could he be the man to end the Serb’s Australian Open hegemony? As Djokovic himself has shown, the absence of fear is half the battle.

Semi-finals: Djokovic to defeat Sinner; Alcaraz to defeat Rune.

Final: Djokovic to defeat Alcaraz. 

The post Australian Open men’s preview: Djokovic eyes 25th major appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Rivalries will be renewed and star names will come under instant scrutiny when the Australian Open begins on Sunday after the draw produced a host of blockbuster first-round duels.

Swiatek will open her challenge for a fifth major title against Sofia Kenin, the American she defeated to win her first at the 2020 French Open. Kenin, ranked 38th and a title winner at Melbourne Park four years ago, is one of five former grand slam champions the world No 1 could face. 

Angelique Kerber, who won the first of her three majors in Australia in 2016, could await in round two, although first the German will need to come through an intriguing opener against Danielle Collins, a semi-final winner over Swiatek two years ago. From the quarter-finals onwards, the Pole is seeded to face Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, who won at the All England Club in 2022, and Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed and defending champion. Jelena Ostapenko, the former French Open champion, is also a potential last-eight opponent; the Latvian has won each of their previous four meetings, most recently at last September’s US Open, where she ended Swiatek’s title defence.  

For Sabalenka, who starts against a qualifier, the first significant test could come in round four against Liudmila Samsonova, the 13th-seeded Russian who has won two of their three previous encounters. Sabalenka is expected to face Ons Jabeur, the sixth seed, ahead of a projected semi-final against Coco Gauff, her conqueror in last year’s US Open final. 

The fourth-seeded Gauff, who opens against Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, is expected to meet Maria Sakkari, seeded eighth, in the quarter-finals.

The big unknown in Gauff’s section is how the returning Naomi Osaka will fare. Twice a former champion, Osaka gave a good account of herself last week in Brisbane, defeating Tamara Korpatsch in her first match since giving birth to her daughter Shai last summer, before falling in three tight sets to Karolina Pliskova. The former world No 1 will face Caroline Garcia of France, the 16th seed, in a show-stealing first-round match.   

Similarly anticipated will be Rybakina’s opener against Pliskova. Seeded third and a finalist last year, the 24-year-old Kazakhstani is expected to meet Daria Kasatkina in the last 16 before a quarter-final meeting with Jessica Pegula.

Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, will commence his bid for an all-time record 25th grand slam against a qualifier. A reunion with five-time finalist Andy Murray, against whom Djokovic sealed four of his 10 title wins, could await in round three, although first Murray will need to negotiate a tricky opener against Argentina’s Tomás Martín Etcheverry, the 30th seed, and a potential clash with fellow tour veteran Gaël Monfils. 

If the seedings hold, Djokovic will meet Ben Shelton, the dangerous 21-year-old who reached the last eight on his Melbourne Park debut last year, in round four. The Serb defeated Shelton in straight sets in last September’s US Open semi-finals. 

From there, Djokovic is projected to face Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Greek seventh seed, in a repeat of last year’s final. Tsitsipas, however, must first negotiate an eye-catching first-round meeting with former semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini, the injury-plagued former world No 6. 

Djokovic is projected to face Jannik Sinner, seeded fourth, in the last four. The 22-year-old Italian, who will open against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, lost just one of his four November meetings with Djokovic last year, scoring a maiden win over the 24-time grand slam champion at the ATP Finals and then beating him in singles and doubles in the Davis Cup. If a seventh career meeting between the pair is to materialise, Sinner may need to get past Frances Tiafoe or Karen Khachanov in round four, ahead of a possible quarter-final against either Andrey Rublev or Alex De Minaur. 

Rublev, the fifth seed, begins against Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild, who defeated Daniil Medvedev at Roland Garros last summer, while De Minaur, riding high at a career-best ranking of 10th, will play Milos Raonic of Canada.

In the bottom quarter, Spanish dynamism will collide with French élan when Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, opens his challenge against Richard Gasquet. With the likes of Lorenzo Sonego, Dan Evans and Alexander Bublik looming in his section, Alcaraz, who decided against playing a warm-up event, will need to hit the ground running ahead of a potential fourth-round meeting with Tommy Paul, who has won two of their four previous encounters. 

The Wimbledon champion is slated to face Alexander Zverev, the German sixth seed, in the quarter-finals, before a third straight grand slam semi-final tussle with Medvedev, the Russian third seed, who ended his US Open reign last September. Medvedev, who opens against a qualifier, is projected to face Denmark’s Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.

Emma Raducanu will continue her comeback from an eight-month injury layoff against Shelby Rogers, whose own physical problems have kept her off court since Wimbledon. The pair have played just once before, Raducanu brushing aside the American for the loss of just three games in the last 16 of the 2021 US Open.  

The post Djokovic and Swiatek land tough draws at Australian Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Instead, an absorbing battle of wits with Daniil Medvedev turned on a pair of fleeting lapses by the Russian world No 3, who double-faulted just twice in two and a half hours but paid a high price on both occasions as Sinner, to the delight of a frenzied home crowd, claimed a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 victory.

In a week when the 22-year-old Italian has produced some of the finest tennis of his life, those two moments were all the opportunity Sinner required to turn the screw. 

The first, which came when Medvedev double-faulted on game point and then gifted his opponent an early lead with a pair of forehand errors, determined the outcome of the opening set. 

The second, which arrived early in the third set, following a brilliant fightback by the former champion, not only handed Sinner a lead he would not relinquish, but also precipitated a meltdown from Medvedev, who dispatched his racket into the digital advertising hoarding before taking issue with a spectator. There would be no way back for the 27-year-old, Sinner pressing home the advantage with some of his boldest tennis of the week. 

If the devil was in the detail, however, it was nonetheless a match that Sinner won, rather than one Medvedev lost. Imperious on serve, irrepressible from the baseline and deadly at the net, where he won 17 of 20 points, Sinner once again performed with a conviction and quality that suggests he is ready to compete for the biggest prizes in the sport. The first Italian to reach the title round at the season finale and the man of the moment in his home country and beyond, Sinner has now won not only his past 10 matches, but also his most recent meetings with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, one of whom he will face in Sunday’s final. 

“It feels great,” said Sinner, who was roared on by the impassioned locals, just as he has been all week. “The atmosphere has been awesome again. Sharing this moment with Italian fans means a lot to me. We’re playing here in Italy. Obviously, [it] means a lot for me and also my team.”

“It was a really tough match. I was struggling in the beginning. He was pushing a lot, he was much more aggressive. I think every set had his own story at some point.”

In the early stages of the opening set, the narrative was largely tactical. A notable feature of Sinner’s landmark first win against Djokovic in midweek was his ability to discomfit the Serb in the frequent backhand-to-backhand exchanges. Clearly determined not to be snared in the same trap, Medvedev sought to alter the angle of attack by taking his forehand down the line wherever possible. Though undermined by a break in the fourth game, the strategy reaped dividends: six of Sinner’s 13 unforced errors came in the opening set, and it was a testament to the Italian’s tactical intelligence that he emerged on top.

Sinner’s astute approach was showcased in the seventh game, which he opened with the fourth of 10 aces, a 129mph delivery down the middle. In a contest where the vast majority of his serves to the deuce court were directed wide, it was an adroit change of direction, one Medvedev was evidently not expecting. Sinner followed up by outmanoeuvring Medvedev behind his second serve – a vastly improved area of his game – before reverting to a viciously sliced wide delivery to force a return error. He eventually closed out the game by drawing Medvedev forward with a drop shot and then flicking a topspin lob over his stranded rival.

“I felt that he was better than me in the first set, in terms of having a little bit more rhythm,” said Medvedev. “I was playing not bad. I had a break point. But I felt him just this tiny bit better than me.”

That changed in the second set where Medvedev, responding to a sharp uptick from Sinner in the longer rallies, began to play with increasing aggression off the ground. With the Italian breathing heavily for the first time, Medvedev stormed through the climactic tiebreak, making every first serve before converting the second of three set points courtesy of a shanked forehand from Sinner.

Tactical nuances faded into insignificance after Medvedev dropped serve in the second game of the decider, however, the Russian’s game unravelling rapidly after he received a code violation for hurling his racket in frustration before directing a few choice words at someone in the crowd. 

“I lost my head a little bit,” acknowledged Medvedev. “Double-fault on the break point. For sure they cheer a little bit the double-fault, but that is normal. He got the break, so I lost it. That was kind of the only game where I lost my head.”

Sinner now stands within one more win of what would be a historic victory.

“If I play against Carlos or if I play against Novak, they’re going to change a couple of things,” said Sinner. “I have to be aware. I have to be very careful and intelligent to understand what’s going on, on the court. Let’s see what’s coming, no?” 

Italy awaits with bated breath.

The post Sinner beats Medvedev to make ATP Finals decider appeared first on Love Game Tennis.