Two things that stood out in Novak Djokovic's win over Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final
Second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the US Open final on Sunday, September 10, to secure a record-extending 24th Grand Slam title. It was also the fourth US Open title for the 36-year-old Serb, who keeps breaking his own records for fun.
Djokovic has won three out of the four Grand Slam events in 2023 and will regain his position at the top of the ATP rankings after the tournament. He also exacted his revenge over Medvedev, who denied him the Calendar Slam in the 2021 US Open final.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1. Djokovic executed serve-and-volley perfectly:
Right from the beginning, Djokovic went for the serve-and-volley quite frequently to take Medvedev by surprise. He mostly followed that approach while serving from his deuce court. Djokovic’s serves with wide angles pushed the Russian into the corner before the Serb ventured forward and hit winners with volleys.
The serve with a wide angle from the deuce court meant that Medvedev needed that extra bit of time to reach the ball, which gave Djokovic enough room to get into a position to hit the volley well in time.
Djokovic displayed his wonderful volleying skills extensively by hitting some sumptuous winners. Moreover, while serving from the ad court, the Serb often hit an inside-out forehand as his second shot to make the Russian stretch towards his backhand side.
Djokovic made a great start to the match, breaking Medvedev in the second game of the first set and then held on to his lead to draw first blood. The second set was a tightly contested one, but the Serb still prevailed in the tiebreak to take a 2-0 lead.
#2. Medvedev struggled to impose himself with his backhand:
As expected, Medvedev did try to play his crosscourt backhand often. However, Djokovic did not engage in prolonged crosscourt backhand exchanges and did not allow the Russian to settle into a rhythm. He often went for backhand slices and drop shots to take the pace off the ball.
At times, Djokovic went around his backhand to take the ball with his forehand. Medvedev managed to pull the trigger by going down-the-line with his backhand, but those occurrences were too infrequent.
The Russian was able to break Djokovic once in the third set, but was broken twice himself. As a result, the Serb did not have to toil much for his win in the end. He won 81% of the points on his first serve in the match against Medvedev’s 71% and 60% of the points on his second serve against the Russian’s 45%.