Only one Big 3 member has advanced to the Australian Open final, but Sunday features nothing less than an absolute blockbuster of a matchup. It’s Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.
Ricky (The Grandstand): Djokovic will be confident because of the past. He is an eight-time Australian Open champion and is 8-0 lifetime in finals at this event. Medvedev will be confident because of the present. He is on a 20-match winning streak and is a hard-to-believe 12-0 in his last 12 matches against top-10 opponents. As tough as it is to pick against Djokovic in Melbourne, I’m leaning toward the present in this one. Medvedev has quite simply been the best player on the planet dating back to last fall and nothing has changed this fortnight. The world No. 4 has won five of his six matches in straight sets, including against eighth-ranked Andrey Rublev and sixth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic, who at times was less than 100 percent physically, has required five sets once (vs. Taylor Fritz) and four sets on three other occasions. And it’s not as if the past entirely favors the world No. 1. He is a less than dominant 4-3 in the head-to-head series and has lost three of his last four matches against Medvedev. My pre-tournament final pick was Medvedev over Djokovic and nothing we have seen so far gives any reason to waffle. Medvedev in 5: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4.
Cheryl (The Grandstand): These were the two players I picked for the final from the start of the tournament. It’s tempting to just assume that Djokovic is a slam dunk for his ninth Oz title, but there isn’t going to be anything simple about this match. First, the intimidation factor isn’t there for Djokovic; Medvedev isn’t afraid of him in the least. In fact, the last time they met (at the Nitto ATP Finals), Medvedev dismantled the Serb. Also, although Medvedev hasn’t won a slam title yet, he’s been in a final (U.S. Open 2019) and he wasn’t scared there against Rafael Nadal, either. So this is going to come down to straight form, and surprisingly that favors the Russian. Djokovic has mostly been good enough this fortnight–not actually good. Medvedev, on the other hand, was sizzling against Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. At present, he looks like a very long-tentacled octopus wielding at least six racquets. He seems to be everywhere all at once. Medvedev in 4: 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3.
Pete (Tennis Acumen): All of the sudden, a Djokovic-Medvedev matchup could very well be considered the most intriguing H2H on the ATP Tour. In a bit of a surprise, it is Medvedev that has won three of the last four meetings. This run includes the 2019 Cincinnati Masters semifinals, in which the Russian threw down the hammer and concurrently announced that his brand of tennis was consistently capable of defeating Djokovic–and defeating all others near the pinnacle of the ATP rankings. However, this match will take place Down Under where Djokovic is king. Despite concerns that he may not have been able to continue during this fortnight, the Serb always has answers and paths to victory, especially serving his way out of jams. No matter what Medvedev throws at Djokovic in Melbourne, the world No. 1 will send a return coming back with interest. Medvedev will eventually claim his first major and most likely more to follow, but not just yet. Djokovic wins his ninth Australian Open and “La Decima” will once again make its way into tennis conversations leading into the 2022 AO. Djokovic in 5: 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Courier refers to Djokovic on a first name basis and Medvedev by 2nd name. Another superficial commentator. He brings a good feel to the AO in general but falls victim to superficiality like the best of them.
Med gets the break
Medvedev 3.40 after losing the first set. That’s the time to load up.
Djokovic can’t keep going like this 3 straight sets or 4 or 5.
In australia he can go 20 like this
True, same as rafa in RG.
looks like Nole in 3 right now.
Medvedev has been tight.
Novak putting the big 2 demise narrative to rest again and rafa keeps his no.2 ranking
Unflappable medvedev is done! His remonstrations are so reminiscent of thiems as he was getting schooled by rafa at the french
Looks like Novak will win this by the same scoreline that he lost the rg final by..
Daniil must be the most overhyped of the ‘new generation’, more so than Zverev and Tsitsipas.
I’m not sure why that is.
Djokovic also channeling his inner stan by pointing to his head😝
Woo hoo Novak! # 18..
Major disappointment for Medvedev. This should’ve been a close tussle. Just noticed on Rod Laver tipped Medvedev to win also.
Osaka and Djoker both won in straight sets, pretty dull finals really.
For a straight sets loss, Jen Brady showed a lot more fight than Medvedev. Really a shame to see him implode like that.
Wow, this AO final almost as uncompetitive as the FO final last year!
Djoko as expected brought his best to the final, despite the struggles in the early rounds. I would expect Medvedev to be as competitive as Thiem last year, but I guess he playing similar style to Djoko won’t do him any favour, especially without a great ROS like that of Djoko’s.
Thiem was probably more an attacking Stan like player unlike Medvedev. So no. 18 for Djoko, incredible to think the both Rafa and Djoko are chasing after Fed’s records and breaking them one by one (though Fed’s consecutive slam SF and QF streaks are unlikely to be broken by Djoko or Rafa).
So, Rafa gets to keep his no.2 ranking.
Congrats to Novak! Another incredible performance to add to his AO record. However, what was shaping up to be a great match unfortunately never materialized, and that had more to do with Medvedev under-performing than Djokovic, who was predictably great. But this should have been a lot closer.
As expected, djokovic wins in straight sets playing fantastic tennis which Medvedev had no answers. And his return game was on fire as usual. Medvedev stood no chance.
Congrats to Nole and his fans. He’s the king of Australia indeed. Atleast this will put the narrative that the “big 3 (or big 2) are finished, changing of the guard etc.” to rest for a while. Nole at 33/34 was the younger and fitter player and blew Medvedev away.
Congrats on your 18th slam and ofcourse next year he will go for la Decima. You have to appreciate his greatness, on hardcourts when he’s in full flow, he’s fantastic and that return game when it’s on fire is just incredible.
Cheryl, I’d simply retire from predicting matches if I were you. An advice: stay away from predictions in case you HATE a player. Cheers!
Seems like to want these current batch of youngsters to beat a big three in a slam final is too much to ask for. Thiem couldn’t beat Djoko at AO and Rafa at FO finals and now Medvedev couldn’t do it either (lost his two slam finals to Rafa and Djoko).
Like what Djoko mentioned earlier, the big three would want to hold on to their places (esp at the slams) for a while more; the youngsters have to wait!
I couldn’t watch. But I kinda had a feeling this morning this night happen as I suddenly remembered how easily Thiem was beating Med at the Atp final then squandered those easy points to break. I really thought Dom lost that match rather than Med won it.
Said afterwards that beating the big 3 in slams was a whole different ball game and I would believe it when I actually saw it.
Should have stuck to that knowledge!!
Many congrats to Nole fans especially Elizabeth. Your boy done good! 😀😀
My condolences 😢😢😢 to all rafans 😂😉😘.
So now Djoko has the most HC slams – 12 (9 AOs and 3 USOs), one more than Fed’s 11. Djoko is best on HCs with 12, Fed best on grass with 8, and Rafa best on clay with 13.
Djoko 12 HCs; 5 Grass; 1 Clay.
Fed 11 HCs, 8 Grass; 1 Clay.
Rafa 13 Clay, 5 HCs, 2 Grass.
It seems that Fed and Djoko are quite similar in their abilities on the various surfaces whilst Rafa stands out alone on clay.