Daniil Medvedev on mission to spoil Carlos Alcaraz vs Novak Djokovic rivalry at US Open
Aug 26, 2023
New York [US], August 26 : Tennis fans may be looking ahead to a possible Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic final at the US Open but Daniil Medvedev has different ideas as the World No. 3 is looking to play the role of disruptor this fortnight.
Like everyone else, Medvedev has relished the burgeoning rivalry between Alcaraz and Djokovic, but with so much focus on the top seed and the 23-time major winner, the 27-year-has his own ideas about changing the script.
“I think that's normal we talk about them. I do think we still talk about me. I'm not feeling too bad, but I'm going to try. The goal is after this US Open, that we talk about me, so I'm going to try to do it. I just try to win. That's the most important. But unconsciously, I feel like many times I was playing good in this role. Hopefully, it can help me these two weeks," Medvedev said in his pre-tournament press conference.
“I think it's great for tennis that we have these two guys playing against each other right now. As I say, it's a great story, but then the tournament starts and hopefully we can — when I say 'we’ [I mean] me personally or someone else — we're going to try to beat them and stop them from playing each other," he added.
The third seed Medvedev boasts a 49-11 match record going into the season's final major. The months of February and March, when Medvedev won 19 straight games and won the titles of Rotterdam, Doha, and Dubai, were a high point of his campaign.
Medvedev is still looking for ways to enhance his game as he goes for his sixth trophy of the year and first major crown since his victory in New York two years ago.
“Definitely the serve, trying to work on it right now. Serve is a tough shot because it's such fine margins sometimes. It's probably the most important shot in tennis because in general, serve can save you many times. You can play not the best match, but serve can save you. You go to the tie-break, then you start playing better. Happened to me many times," Medvedev said.
“Everyone went through this stage and sometimes it's in one week and sometimes it's in one month where you serve just a little bit worse. In general, I know I can serve very well. Usually, the US Open for whatever reason I was serving even better than I usually do. Hopefully, this can help me," said the Russian player.
The 20-time tour-level titlist will open his US Open campaign against Hungarian Attila Balazs and is seeded to meet long-time friend Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals.
“I'm feeling good right now. Hopefully I can feel like this during the tournament also. How do you cope with this? You try with your team to do the best schedule possible in terms of days off, practices, what you do in your off time. I feel like I'm pretty experienced in this so hopefully I can be 100 per cent starting from the first match," Medvedev said.
