2019 Cincinnati SF - [1] Novak Djokovic vs [9] Daniil Medvedev

Who wins?

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    47
  • Poll closed .
I didn't watch but really surprised by the result. Looks like there really might be a matchup issue. Djokovic never had it easy against Med, even in the matches which he won.
 
Imperator said:
Goatvedev happened.
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(y)
This is the ultimate scenario for him putting together his excellent returning while goating on serve. Did it in Tokyo for the whole tournament, but never did this 2nd serve thing.

Djokovic still with what he showed in this match the clear, clear strong favorite for the US Open; he's ready for any draw. At the beginning of US Open Series thought this would be the most open major of the year and at least tonight Medvedev has brought into question 5 of 6 slams for Nole and really out of nowhere.

Team anti-Nole for which I've been a long time member has won a battle tonight, but the war still looks lost. Thiem allegedly just getting out of his sick bed today.:cry:
 
I remember being a bit "upset" when Tsits had great results while Mad Lad looked like a typical youngster these days.

Order might be restored after all. :D
 
I Am Finnish said:
Is Bullsheet Russian now offical a diamond age tier I


@Meles
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LOL. Just filling in for Zedrot. I still rate him B team, but this year
giphy.gif
 
MugOpponent said:
With the draw they were giving him it made absolutely no sense to take it off. I just don't buy the rest angle. There are days off between matches at the USO and first two or three matches should be stress free.
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They are just a lot smarter this year and last year US Open ended up his last event so caution very merited.
 
I think this was a very successful tournament for Novak. Completely showed how he is the absolute favourite at the Open despite this loss.
This was just a small blip from him and Mad Lad starting GOATING out of nowhere.
What amazing play by the Lad.
125+ 2nd serve aces. Are you kidding me!?
Hope the Lad gets the win tomorrow.
Prince Joffrey isn't my true son anyway so I hope he loses.
 
MeatTornado said:
But he's not wrong though. He'll have more chances to win it, but it's hard to envision a better path than Medvedev/Goffin in Cincinnati. That's as good as it gets.
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Looks like this wasn't such a good path, since he lost.
Medvedev defeated him in MC this year, and gave him his toughest match at the AO. I wouldn't consider him a "good path"...

RunDatGame said:
I have never seen this "I don't give a f... tactics" against Nole, serving two first serves for 2 sets. It was interesting to watch that for the first time.
Anyway congrats Medvedev, no one tried that for all this years and it was a perfect tactics today when your serve is clicking like that.
Gl in finals, hope you take it.
Nole, you were good, no need to analyze it to much. That was wierd :)
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Actually, I'd think he (and his team) should analyze it a lot. In order to find the right approach against an opponent he's very likely to encounter again.
 
I Am Finnish said:
DiD you watched the Zedzilla - The Kec match:sneaky:?
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Just pieces because the 20 double faults says a lot. I'd say his camp is finally aware that his 2nd serve has become a massive liability after earning him the Zedbot moniker in 2017. 2018 2nd serve was down quite a bit, but first serve and return went up better than hoped. He's trying to resurrect the 2nd serve, but have got a feeling he's just played way to many tournaments and way too many doubles matches. The fact that his first serve went into the trash with the attempt to serve bigger on 2nd is a clue. At least his team is aware of the problem, but will they figure it out?:unsure: I've got a feeling that match was Zed's quick fix to the problem. At this point I'd say he and Jez Green need to look at a lot of tape of 2017 and see what has gone wrong; its really looking physical now.
Team-Zverev-Australian-Open-2017-8519.jpg
 
The "girlfriend" is actually his wife. He credits her with the improvements he has made particularly to his emotional side.
 
I do hope Medvedev wins tomorrow, though Goffin has to want it just as much. He has been playing lights out tennis and deserves to cap it off with that pretty Cinci vase!
 
Zara said:
What happened in Montreal though against Nadal? He was so plain and simple in that match. Seemed a lot more pumped up here.
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Think he wants a second shot at a Masters final to make up for bombing out to Nadal in Montreal. This time he only has to face Goffin and not a Big 3 guy so the odds for him on landing a maiden Masters 1000 title have gone up considerably.
 
StrongRule said:
I didn't watch but really surprised by the result. Looks like there really might be a matchup issue. Djokovic never had it easy against Med, even in the matches which he won.
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Medvedev was serving like Kyrgios in the last two sets with decent net play and almost Djokovician defence in rallies. Novak had a small blip at the end of the second set - Dani was perfect - and a bigger one at the start of the third - there Med didn't have to do much. After that he was blasting both serves (literally hitting 2nd serve aces, 4 aces 4 DFs not counting unreturned 2nd serves so that worked wonders), with Djokovic making like 2-3 errors on the half-chances he had it was more than enough and then Noel let his mood drop and played a silly game to gave Medvedev the final break for the match.
 
What impresses me from watching the highlights is that Medvedev realized that you just can't play the ABC tennis and expect to beat Djokovic. Honestly from what I see there is nothing to be discouraged about if you're a Djokovic fan.

I also love the no reaction to winning what is a huge match for a young kid. Down a set to one of the greatest of all time and then you play out of your mind to win the match and you don't go crazy? Wow that says a lot.
 
AnOctorokForDinner said:
Medvedev was serving like Kyrgios in the last two sets with decent net play and almost Djokovician defence in rallies. Novak had a small blip at the end of the second set - Dani was perfect - and a bigger one at the start of the third - there Med didn't have to do much. After that he was blasting both serves (literally hitting 2nd serve aces, 4 aces 4 DFs not counting unreturned 2nd serves so that worked wonders), with Djokovic making like 2-3 errors on the half-chances he had it was more than enough and then Noel let his mood drop and played a silly game to gave Medvedev the final break for the match.
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Yep. It wasn't like Novak played an absolute sh1t match. I would say that Daniil got a bit lucky for his first break and then Djoker level got down too but it wasn't like Nole was sh1t. More like Mad Lad Goating. He was even break points down after amazing baseline play by Djoko but Lad just kept getting mad on those serves.
Amazing and unexpected.
 
I wanna know just what that trainer did to Medvedev when he massaged his arm. He turned into a different player after that, could hardly miss! :oops:

If Med wins tomorrow, he should donate some of his winnings to that trainer!! ;)
 
MugOpponent said:
What impresses me from watching the highlights is that Medvedev realized that you just can't play the ABC tennis and expect to beat Djokovic. Honestly from what I see there is nothing to be discouraged about if you're a Djokovic fan.

I also love the no reaction to winning what is a huge match for a young kid. Down a set to one of the greatest of all time and then you play out of your mind to win the match and you don't go crazy? Wow that says a lot.
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I can't believe how much I have to eat my words after complaining in the opening set about how "this is why the Big 3 are still on top, they always have a plan B or C while these kids only have 1 approach."
 
MugOpponent said:
What impresses me from watching the highlights is that Medvedev realized that you just can't play the ABC tennis and expect to beat Djokovic. Honestly from what I see there is nothing to be discouraged about if you're a Djokovic fan.

I also love the no reaction to winning what is a huge match for a young kid. Down a set to one of the greatest of all time and then you play out of your mind to win the match and you don't go crazy? Wow that says a lot.
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Absolutely agreed with everything you say.
Djoker the true favourite for the Open still.
The way he was playing for a set and a half was enough to beat anyone at the Open and he won't get his level down like today.
And there won't be an opponent who GOATS like this for three sets. It would still be on Djoker's racquet.

Mad Lad realising that he won't win the way things were going and increasing that 2nd serve speed was one of the most amazing mid match adjustments I have ever seen.
What stands out is that the Lad can actually play aggressive tennis on serve and return both.
The thing is that no matter how pleasant this looked the truth still stands that Lad's base level just isn't that good and most of the time he isn't this aggressive to be the next big thing. I think he will be in the mix but someone else will have to be the next big thing coz this performance isn't gonna be the norm for Mad Lad. This is a one off or more like a local maximum.
I really hope I am wrong though.
Now is the time the Lad gets a better coach.
 
Mainad said:
Think he wants a second shot at a Masters final to make up for bombing out to Nadal in Montreal. This time he only has to face Goffin and not a Big 3 guy so the odds for him on landing a maiden Masters 1000 title have gone up considerably.
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Do you suppose he would have not won it had he faced Djokovic in the final instead of today? If the draw were like that as in.
 
Goffin probably got this tomorrow. Meddy won't be able to produce the same level tomorrow, rest assured.
 
Mainad said:
I wanna know just what that trainer did to Medvedev when he massaged his arm. He turned into a different player after that, could hardly miss! :oops:

If Med wins tomorrow, he should donate some of his winnings to that trainer!! ;)
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I was laughing my ass off when the trainer was massaging his arm and Lad was making funny noises in pain and I was thinking that if he gives me some good points I will be happy with the match coz Djoker had already been playing well and his baselining and occasional SnV and dropshots had already been a treat but then the Lad does that.
Truly remarkable.
 
Robert Baratheon said:
I was laughing my ass off when the trainer was massaging his arm and Lad was making funny noises in pain and I was thinking that if he gives me some good points I will be happy with the match coz Djoker had already been playing well and his baselining and occasional SnV and dropshots had already been a treat but then the Lad does that.
Truly remarkable.
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Triple-H-Stephanie-McMahon-with-Sledgehammer.jpg
 
Robert Baratheon said:
I was laughing my ass off when the trainer was massaging his arm and Lad was making funny noises in pain and I was thinking that if he gives me some good points I will be happy with the match coz Djoker had already been playing well and his baselining and occasional SnV and dropshots had already been a treat but then the Lad does that.
Truly remarkable.
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(y)
 
AnOctorokForDinner said:
Medvedev was serving like Kyrgios in the last two sets with decent net play and almost Djokovician defence in rallies. Novak had a small blip at the end of the second set - Dani was perfect - and a bigger one at the start of the third - there Med didn't have to do much. After that he was blasting both serves (literally hitting 2nd serve aces, 4 aces 4 DFs not counting unreturned 2nd serves so that worked wonders), with Djokovic making like 2-3 errors on the half-chances he had it was more than enough and then Noel let his mood drop and played a silly game to gave Medvedev the final break for the match.
Click to expand...
Well, as I said Medvedev might become a real threat. I don't know why he played so bad in Montreal final, but other than that it looks like he is playing very well right now.
 
MugOpponent said:
What impresses me from watching the highlights is that Medvedev realized that you just can't play the ABC tennis and expect to beat Djokovic. Honestly from what I see there is nothing to be discouraged about if you're a Djokovic fan.

I also love the no reaction to winning what is a huge match for a young kid. Down a set to one of the greatest of all time and then you play out of your mind to win the match and you don't go crazy? Wow that says a lot.
Click to expand...
I really hate it when a second-rate player beats a top guy in the first rounds of any tournament and then they celebrate like they just won Wimbledon, ala Rosol. Loser mentality.

I like this Medvedev guy.
 
StrongRule said:
Well, as I said Medvedev might become a real threat. I don't know why he played so bad in Montreal final, but other than that it looks like he is playing very well right now.
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In Canada Lad wasn't serving well neither was he returning well. He just didn't turn up with his best game.
And then he was very passive.
And Nadal feeds on passive players.
Nadal played a good tactical match in Canada. He kept sending Mad Lad to the corners of the court with his CC FH and CC BH and then he would either come to the net or hit a winner in the open court. And because Lad wasn't clicking he couldn't pass Nadal.

Then when that tactic worked for Nadal, Lad just completely fell off.
 
Andrew Burton
@burtonad

Medvedev in press now. Asked about second serve aces, decided to go for it, one double fault won’t kill me. Says he wasn’t hitting the ball well early, decided to be more aggressive





Says his recent game plan has been not to take too many risks, today he changed it up. Not sure if this is Russian mentality.









Asked if this is the way to beat the Big 3, says he’s only beaten Novak, hasn’t beaten the other two.







I asked him whether he felt Novak’s level dip as his went up: he said that’s normal, when one player’s energy goes up even a great champion’s level can go down, and he felt he (Daniil) got a second wind at 1-1 or 2-2 in set 2, and he was able to carry it through to set 3.








Asked if he’ll have enough energy for tomorrow: In the first set, he thought he’d fall down after every long rally with Novak, but he was able to run like crazy in set 3, so he’ll be OK for tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Tennis Accent...

Q. He started changing his tactics, going bigger midway through the second set. How were you attempting to cope with that at that point?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I thought I played really good match. Yes, maybe in those games, especially in the third set when I was broken, at 1-All I could have done a little bit better, but, I mean, when someone serves 128-miles-per-hour second serve and doesn’t make too many doubles faults and goes for every shot, I mean, you just have to put your hat down and congratulate him.

I mean, he has played amazing tennis from 4-3 in the second set. Not much that I could really do. I mean, I tried to return his serve. And when I had my racquet on the ball I was returning also his serves, but you can’t really predict someone or prepare yourself for someone serving that big second serve consistently from 4-3 to the end of the match with making maybe two double faults out of God knows how many serves.

I asked Novak about baseline tactics. I thought he’d done a good job changing up patterns on his opponent: Again, he went back to those Medvedev second serves:

Q. Tactically you were going down the line quite a lot in the extended rallies rather than just going crosscourt. I wonder if that was part of the game plan. Did things shift as the match went on?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I thought tactically I was doing really well. I mean, I had some break points second set. You know, I was one shot, one point away from taking a break in the second set and maybe taking the match in straight sets.

I thought I was mixing my serve very well. You know, you can’t do much really if 30-40 comes up with two aces. Second set then 3-All, Love-30 he comes up with ace second, ace first, ace second. What can you do? It’s one of these things that, one of these kind of situations where you just have to accept it, and I don’t think I have done too much wrong, to be honest.

I’m very pleased with the way I have played entire tournament. Obviously it hurts to lose a match. Of course it does. But at the end of the day, I’m positive about my game.

Medvedev was happy but quietly confident in his own interview. He talked about the key decision to go big or go home:

Q. Five second-serve aces tonight, looked like you really started going big on the second midway through the second set.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I didn’t know it was five. Yeah, as I said on the court, at one moment, I think it was 3-All, 30-All when I did the first time, and I was standing there before my second serve, and I was, like, I’m losing literally. I don’t know the percentage I had, but in my opinion I had, like, 20% the second service won. Especially in the crucial moments he was pushing me.

So I say, If I do one double fault it won’t change my life. Same result. But if I put it in, it’s maybe going to be an ace, and I actually made a good decision to do it like this.

Novak had insisted that he’d played well: I asked Daniil if he’d noticed any change in his opponent’s level during the match, and I got a very insightful answer:

Q. So you clearly lifted your game in the second set in the middle of the second set. Did you notice Novak’s game drop off, or did you think he stayed at about the same level but you just outcompeted him?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It’s tough to say, because I think it’s completely normal in tennis where you’re one on one that when one energy lifts up, and I actually felt it already at, like, 2-All, I think, or 3-2 for me in the second set, I’m starting to catch the second breath, starting to be more aggressive, and I find it completely normal that even such champion as Novak can feel my energy growing up and so his energy went a little bit down.

I managed to use it straightaway in the third set, also, and just kept the gap that I made during this momentum change.
 
Congrats to all those who were sure DM would take out Novak. I thought Nole would beat him easily, all those who predicted this upset-- hats off!
 
Nostradamus said:
so We were all Wrong all along.... New Young gun that will take over the tennis is Medvedev.............................Not all those other clowns
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In fairness, Nick beat Novak twice in two weeks last year and it wasn't a predictor of any future greatness for him. Medvedev hasn't even won this event yet.
 
Meles said:
(y)
This is the ultimate scenario for him putting together his excellent returning while goating on serve. Did it in Tokyo for the whole tournament, but never did this 2nd serve thing.

Djokovic still with what he showed in this match the clear, clear strong favorite for the US Open; he's ready for any draw. At the beginning of US Open Series thought this would be the most open major of the year and at least tonight Medvedev has brought into question 5 of 6 slams for Nole and really out of nowhere.

Team anti-Nole for which I've been a long time member has won a battle tonight, but the war still looks lost. Thiem allegedly just getting out of his sick bed today.:cry:
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WTH speaky anglish ?
 
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