"I should have changed my position, but I'm not sure I would have won" - Daniil Medvedev on being 'stubborn' vs Novak Djokovic in US Open final loss
Former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev recently speculated on whether he would have won the 2023 US Open if he had changed his strategy during his summit clash against Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic cemented his status as the greatest tennis player of all time on September 10, beating Medvedev in the New York Slam final to win a record 24th Grand Slam singles title.
The 36-year-old equaled Margaret Court's record for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the sport's history. He now stands alone as the sole player to win 24 Majors in the Open Era.
However, things could have gone differently if the Russian had won the second set, which went to a tiebreak, and changed his deep-court return position, which the Serb exploited with serve-and-volley plays.
Daniil Medvedev recently attended a press conference during the 2023 Vienna Open, when he was questioned if he believes he would have won the match if he had altered his tactics against Djokovic. The Russian said that he would have won the second set possibly, but not the match.
"Maybe I would have won the set, but I don't know the match. As for the position in response against Novak in the future, probably yes. And that's the tennis thing. Especially against a good serve-and-net player, if he goes with an outside serve on my forehand, maybe he'll win three points out of four or four out of five," he said. (Quotes via UBI Tennis)
However, the former US Open champion believes he was 'too stubborn' during the match, thus he couldn't do what he wanted.
"But there's a moment, like at 30-30 or 30-40, when if I make that answer he's under pressure. You don't need to break every game, you need that comeback at the right time. I wasn't able to respond the way I wanted to, but during the game I believed I could," Medvedev said.
"After the game I thought I had been too stubborn. I should have changed it. But if I had changed, I'm not sure I would have won. It's very complex," he added.
Daniil Medvedev will play Grigor Dimitrov in Vienna Open 2023 2R
Daniil Medvedev began his 2023 Vienna Open campaign on Wednesday (October 25) with a dominating win, defeating Arthur Fils 6-4, 6-2. The defending champion will now face Grigor Dimitrov in the next round on Thursday (October 26).
Medvedev leads Dimitrov 5-2 in their head-to-head record. Their most recent meeting was at the 2023 ABN AMRO Open semifinal, where the World No. 3 won 6-1, 6-2.
Interestingly, the two squared off in the semifinals in Vienna last year, where Daniil Medvedev overcame his Bulgarian opponent 6-4, 6-2 en route to a successful title-winning run.