The first time Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev crossed paths on the Monte Carlo Country Club’s pristine claycourts, the Russian believed the Serbian had a god-like presence.
Following their eighth clash on the professional circuit on Rod Laver Arena’s blue plexicushion, that remains unchanged.
For all of the pandemic quirks making this Australian Open unforgettable – masks, canned applause and mid-tournament lockdowns – Novak Djokovic’s invincibility on the final Sunday is still a constant.
The world No.1 stomached a first-set challenge before relentless defence and physicality cracked the Russian shapeshifter. Djokovic demolished Medvedev 7-5 6-2 6-2 in under two hours, dampening pre-match hopes of a blockbuster final.
The Serbian hoisted an unprecedented ninth Australian Open title from nine finals appearances and his 18th major trophy overall, drawing him two shy of all-time major winners Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Djokovic also completed his second Australian Open threepeat.
Djokovic accomplished all this while fighting a stomach tear and being “persona non grata in this country” (his words) after a checklist of quarantine “suggestions” for fellow players was leaked to the public.
“I would like to thank this court. I would like to thank Rod Laver Arena. I love you each year more and more. It’s been love affair keeps growing,” Djokovic said, clutching a familiar friend in the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Medvedev – more mathematician than baseline slugger, more chessman than marathoner – came into the match delivering feverish levels of hype.
The Russian was on a 20-match win streak (11 of those against the rest of the top 10, including Djokovic), rattling off the Paris Masters, ATP Finals and ATP Cup in succession.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Medvedev’s semi-final victim, described the Russian’s cunning courtcraft as if he had “unlocked pretty much everything in the game”.
But Djokovic had all the answers for a man who supposedly has all the answers.
He broke the Russian’s serve immediately and raced to a three-game lead in eight minutes. Advantage, Serbia.
The man they call the Djoker danced the final do-si-do eight times over in Melbourne already and Medvedev was not keeping with the rhythm. The Russian, for his part, was not playing poorly. Djokovic was just in another stratosphere.
Medvedev showed flickers of his electrifying style – hitting more than 80 per cent of his first serves in early, a must against the best returner that’s lived – which sparked in the fourth game.
He won a 28-shot slugfest, a taxing test of wits dragging both players to the ends of the earth, as if they were connected by an invisible cord that would coil and spring with every blow.
Then, his remarkable off the cuff thinking sparkled under the Sunday night lights. Medvedev, essentially so far back in the court that he became a de facto spectator, shot two moon balls into the chilly Melbourne night, the second catching Djokovic off balance, who hit a mishit smash.
As quick as he ceded the disadvantage, he gained it back. And Djokovic, hunched over out of puff as the rallies grew into mini-matches on the broader canvas, deferred to drop shots that Medvedev traced with aplomb. Over the first set, the average rally lasted nearly six shots.
Medvedev said pre-match that Djokovic was the man with the pressure squarely on his shoulders. And at 5-5 in the first set, that’s how the match was starting to transpire.
And then, it didn’t.
Djokovic held emphatically to love. Then he raced ahead 0-30 in Medvedev’s sixth service game. A lucky net cord and a neatly threaded backhand pass meant three set points were on his plate. Medvedev saved one with a big-time forehand. The next with a 214 km/h rocket. But a third, a forehand sitter, went begging as the ball sank into the net.
After 42 minutes of end-to-end rallying, having the set extracted from Medvedev at the cruellest moment seemed to sink the Russian’s spirits.
Despite Medvedev racing out of the blocks with a break in the second set, Djokovic ran away with two consecutive breaks of his own as the Russian stopped matching Djokovic shot-for-shot and made uncharacteristic errors that landed metres out.
After the second, Medvedev unleashed his frustrations on his racquet, breaking it in half. He then cursed his box in French, Russian and English – a pattern he wouldn’t break as he only won three more games to Djokovic’s 12.
The Serbian, by contrast, closed his eyes and meditated at the change of ends.
Djokovic secured the second set with a ripping forehand return that Medvedev could only watch land at his shoelaces and bunt in vain.
And in the end, Djokovic only needed one championship point.
Avenging for his earlier smashing woes, the Serbian followed in a forehand to the net, backed it up with a stuck volley, and swung a no-look haymaker over his head for the match winner.
Splayed on his back, Djokovic rewrote Melbourne Park’s history, yet again.
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