Daniil Medvedev made quite the impression in New York this year. There are not many that can say that they took on the NYC crowd and won but I think it is pretty obvious Daniil did.

I was lucky enough to be present at Flushing Meadows for part of the Medvedev v Lopez encounter and I have to say I was absolutely loving it. https://atpwtablog.com/2019/08/30/simply-allez-le-evo-day-4-courtside-at-the-us-open/. The antics, celebrations/dancing and on-court interviews were masterful throughout the fortnight. Twitter referred to it ‘some of the finest trolling ever seen’. It was the classic Prime Time TV. The victories over Dellien, Lopez and Koepfer were high in drama for differing reasons. The cramps against Dellien were particularly nasty and the banter and show put on against Lopez and Koepfer will live in the memory for a while. Let’s not forget there was an issue with his adductor muscle too but he just got on with it. From that point onwards it was all about the quality of tennis. Not that it was poor before, far from it.

The mental strength shown throughout the tournament was astounding. Especially when you think of the crowd being against him, as he said, he seemed to feed off it. The standard was massively out of the top draw and like Rafa said you can see why he is number four in the world. It wasn’t just in the final though, his performances against Wawrinka and Dimitrov were classy. The Russian was proving the hardest of nuts to crack, playing bigtime tennis at bigtime moments. I said before, I think he would have beaten anyone else in the final. All summer he has been on fire and his record proves that at 20-3 on the US Hardcourts since Wimbledon.

The crowd’s reaction towards the end of the Rafa match was the biggest compliment he could get off them. They were torn between two players who were out there giving there all, for one of the biggest prizes in tennis. That is some turnaround. You would have to say you expect him to be a crowd favourite next year.

Daniil might not be proud of some of the things he has said and done in the past. On the other hand, on some occasions, he might be very happy with his efforts. Daniil says he just tries to be himself and that he certainly is. I am a big fan of that!

Andy Del Potro