Daniil Medvedev felt he got inside Carlos Alcaraz’s head during his stunning four-set victory over the Spaniard at the US Open. The 2021 champion has set up a repeat of his victorious final against Novak Djokovic two years ago by pulling off a sensational win over the Wimbledon winner.
Medvedev sought revenge for his Wimbledon semi-final defeat against Alcaraz by steering beyond the 20-year-old with a fantastic performance on Arthur Ashe. The Russian later dubbed it a ‘12 out of 10’ display.
A 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory saw Medvedev avoid the thrilling comebacks that Alcaraz has managed against other top players this year. The 27-year-old believes the key to his triumph was getting inside Alcaraz’s head.
Explaining his game plan, Medvedev said: “Yeah, the thing is [at the] US Open, and I don’t really know the reason, I tend to play aggressive, fast, I serve well. Probably the speed of the court that helps me.
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“Indian Wells, I mean, that I did the final was amazing, because I basically can’t hit the ball there. It has nothing to do, let’s call it, with my forehand and so I beat some good guys there, some good matches, but as soon as I got someone like Carlos with his style of play, it was kind of over for me.
“I would generally think a court like Miami maybe I could have done the same like today. So for sure I had my plan in my head, but I kind of had the same one in Wimbledon and Indian Wells.
“It’s just that the courts were tougher to use it. I mean, grass is completely different, so on grass it’s just tougher to hit this forehand. So I’m happy that I managed to get in his head.”
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Medvedev was extremely impressed by his own display. He insisted before facing Alcaraz that he needed to be ‘11 out of 10’ to win – and said afterwards that he managed to reach ‘12 out of 10’.
He continued: “I said I needed to play 11 out of 10. I played 12 out of 10, except the third set. That’s the only way.
“I don’t know if he’s still 20 or 21, but [he is] so young, already two Grand Slams, world No 1 for many weeks. It’s honestly just pretty unbelievable and I think nobody has done it before him. To beat him, you need to be better than yourself and I managed to do it.”
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