“I don’t think there is someone who can hit him so hard and also with such effect,” Medvedev said of the Murcian.
Both have only met once, which ended with a victory for the Russian
Just one game away from being crowned in Indian Wells and to recover the number one in the world, Carlos Alcaraz He pointed out this Saturday that he expects a very demanding final against the Russian Daniel Medvedevthe most fit player on the circuit with 19 consecutive matches won and three tournaments won in a row.
“It’s practically a wall: it gives you everything backhe moves incredibly well, he takes you out well, he puts everything to play, that in the end you also have to know how to manage it,” Alcaraz said at a press conference.
“Tomorrow we are going to have to be very patient, play at a high level and go out thinking that it is going to be practically a war. All the points must be thought that they are going to be 20 balls and from there try to set our rhythm and our game. But we’ll see what happens because he comes with a very high winning streak,” he added.
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After losing in 2022 in the Indian Wells semifinals to Rafa Nadal, Alcaraz qualified for the final of the first Masters 1000 of the season by beating Italian Jannik Sinner 7-6(4) and 6-3 this Saturday in one hour and 52 minutes.
Although in the second round he was able to clearly impose his game, the first one was especially even and hardso much so that Alcaraz had to solve a set point from Sinner.
“I have had my options having a ‘break’ up top and serving with new balls, but there I had a little mistake and from there everything has been equalized”, he explained.
“I have saved a ‘set ball’ in a way that I could have practically lost it. And well, in the end it was very even until the end of the ‘tie break’ (…). The set could have fallen from Jannik perfectly but it was small details,” he added.
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Alcaraz, who has not yet lost a set in this edition of Indian Wells, He reflected on his mentality in the key moments of the meetings and said that “closing both sets and matches is never easy”.
“You’re always thinking: ‘And if I lose it, and if they bring me back…’ On the other hand, it seems unbelievable, but when you have it against you it’s like: ‘Well, I’m going to play my game and if I lose it there’s still a whole set left or if I lose it I’ve lost it and nothing happens,'” he said.
“I don’t prepare in any way at those times but just try to play a good point. In tense moments I try to play at a high level which is what the very good ones do. I think that in tense moments you can see the difference between the good ones and the very good ones,” he said.
Just a precedent against Medvedev
Facing the final on Sunday there is only one precedent between Medvedev and Alcaraz: a second-round match at Wimbledon in 2021 that the Russian won 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
But a lot has happened in these last two years and both Medvedev and Alcaraz considered that now the situation for both is very different.
“If I’m not mistaken, when I played against him he was number two in the world and I had just started playing on the circuit, he was not an experienced player. For me it was a strange match”, said the Spaniard.
“Now it’s totally different. Now I have at least more experience than in that match. I know how to play against him. I have trained with him a few times (…). I think it’s going to be a totally different game,” he said.
Finally, Alcaraz said that tomorrow he will jump to the Indian Wells track party focused and that he would get it if he won the tournament.
“I’ll try not to think about it. I’ll try to think about the things I have to do. Tomorrow is going to be a really tactical match against Daniil. It’s going to be really hard and I have to do, let’s say, everything perfect. That’s all I’m going to think about tomorrow,” she maintained.
Medvedev on Alcaraz: “He’s incredible, his talent is hard to compare”
Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev, who will face Carlos Alcaraz this Sunday in the Indian Wells final, did not spare praise this Saturday to describe the young Spaniard.
“He is incredible. His incredible talent is hard to compare to anyone’s.”he pointed out in a press conference.
“I would think maybe Rafa Nadal, but it’s hard to compare because Rafa is left-footed so you can’t really compare his ball. Once he hits from the right it’s amazing to watch. I don’t think there is anyone who can hit it that hard and also with that much effect. That is why he was the youngest number one in history. That means something. It will be great and fun to play against him,” she argued.
With 19 straight match wins and three consecutive tournament wins (Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai), Medvedev, who is going through a great moment of form, qualified this Saturday for the final in the Masters 1000 in the Californian desert at beat American Frances Tiafoe by 7-5 and 7-6(4) in one hour and 46 minutes.
In the final they will face off against an Alcaraz who defeated Italian Jannik Sinner in the semifinals by 7-6(4) and 6-3 in one hour and 52 minutes.
If he beats Medvedev in the title match, Alcaraz will also regain the world number one, now held by Serbian Novak Djokovic.
There is only one precedent between Medvedev and Alcaraz: a Wimbledon second round match in 2021 that the Russian took 6-4, 6-1 and 6-2.
“He definitely wasn’t the same player then as he is now. So, in a way, it will be like a first match between us in terms of how we are going to deal with it tactically or physically,” Medvedev said.
“I feel confident now. I think the surface is better for him but I will try to give the best of my tennis (…). But when I see him I am very surprised sometimes that you see stellar moments in him where he goes running all over the place and then he manages to find the best shot at the best moment,” she said.