ATP Astana: Djokovic, Medvedev - Surprising end of the stop festival
Although Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev only managed two sets on Saturday night in Astana before the Russian gave up, there was a whole year's worth of stop balls to be admired.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Oct 08, 2022, 09:55 pm
Even more surprising than the stop balls that Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev twirled into each other's half was the Russian's surrender after losing the second set. A few moments earlier, Medvedev had the match ball on the racket in a simple forehand volley, now Djokovic was standing next to the referee's chair a bit helpless. And once again gave the departing Medvedev fair applause.
But back to the game before that: Seldom has there been a tighter sequence of stops in a match in which Hugo Gaston was not involved than in the tie-break of round two of the second semi-final in the second semi-final in Astana. It was mostly Djokovic who opened the round, always with the backhand, always longline.
Medvedev and Djokovic with great space coverage
Medvedev used the remedy less often, but received all but one of the drop shots of the Serb, who will fight Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday for the 90th title of his magnificent career. In response, Medvedev mostly tried a longer ball to the baseline, the counter-stop couldn't really put Djokovic, who was excellent on foot as always, under pressure.
The space coverage of both players was simply terrific, but the use of stop balls was only logical: Because Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev can play flawlessly from the baseline at the highest speed. Almost for hours. You have to come up with something.
Incidentally, Hugo Gaston, the grandmaster of stop ball, started at about the same time as Medvedev and Djokovic on Saturday. However, lost his semi-final in Mouilleron-Le-Captif against Vasek Pospisil in three sets.