Sinner-Medvedev, the precedents: Russian taboo for Jannik

Between Sinner and his first Masters 1000 there is a player who has beaten him five times out of five in previous meetings and who has only conceded him three sets in total.

Up until now, Daniil Medvedev has been a fire-breathing dragon for Jannik: against him the blue hasn’t yet found countermeasures to stem his devastating strength. Except for brief stretches in some moments of the game, as happened for example in the last direct confrontation in the final in Rotterdam (the one won by Medvedev in three sets), in all the previous matches we have seen how up to now the Russian is was perhaps the worst opponent for Sinner. The sixth clash between the two, however, promises to be different.

THE LAST BATTLE

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Only once was the blue one step away from beating the former world number one, at the 2021 Turin Finals, in an apparently meaningless match (Sinner could not qualify, Medvedev was already sure he was first in his group), but which instead of meaning took on meaning, and how. By making him not exactly conventional, as often happened to him (he loves or hates himself for this too), Medvedev assumed with Jannik an attitude bordering on provocation, sometimes even a little beyond. The Russian won the first set with a mocking 6-0 in 25′, making fun of the South Tyrolean a bit in the field changes who, also due to this contemptuous behavior, found strength and arm and won a spectacular second set in the tie -break. Something the Russian didn’t like at all, who played a bit like cat and mouse with his opponent in the third set: he continued with his irreverent (and not very concentrated) attitude, but managed to win at the tie break after canceling two matches point to blue.

HOPE

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The two don’t love each other, really not. Certain respect: both know that the other is a great player and that counts, but they’re not really friends. Also because, as always happens in these cases, the “older” champion immediately smells the potential danger coming from a strong young man. And Medvedev certainly immediately understood that Jannik would be tough, very tough, in the years to come. He understood it, for sure, already from their first meeting, in Marseille in 2020, when he caught an impressive 1-6 from not even 19-year-old Jannik in the first set. Once the initial shock was registered, the Russian put things right by inflicting a 6-1 6-2 on the young opponent, but already from the handshake at the net it was clear that they would never like each other too much. The second meeting the following year, again in Marseille, with a much clearer victory for the Russian (6-2 6-4), and last season, in Vienna, in Sinner’s worst moment, another 6-4 6- 2 without much history. In the last confrontation in Rotterdam, in the final last February, here is the more balanced match between the two. Leaving aside the score (5-7 6-2 6-2), a bit false and too wide in Medvedev’s favor, in Holland it was clearly seen that the gap has narrowed and that by now the match can be even. It is no coincidence that Jannik, in his interview after the victory against Alcaraz, said he “can’t wait” to meet Medvedev in the final. Not only for the stakes and for the match itself, but the look and tone (of defiance) were those of someone who feels ready for a showdown. As if to say: “Look what I’ve become, Daniil: now the two of us”.