ATP Miami - "Just didn't want to fall": 94-year-old Daniil Medvedev cramps and wins
Daniil Medvedev has played the match of the previous tournament in Miami - and won despite severe cramps. "One of my sweetest wins," he commented afterwards.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Mar 29, 2021, 01:54 pm
Sometimes it's good if you don't use the first match points straight away. Daniil Medvedev had them with a score of 7: 6 (3) and 5: 4, three in a row. After he had previously given his service game to zero. But Alexei Popyrin stayed cool, equalized, got the second set - and sent Medvedev on a tour of hell.
The second in the world rankings got cramps and at the end of the sentence hiked either like Charlie Chaplin, like a 94-year-old or a duck at speed across the court, as commented on tennis Twitter with amusement.
Less amused, of course: Opponent Popyrin. Because in the rallies Medvedev turned up, played all-or-nothing, in the end he brought the match home with strong serves - 7: 6 (3), 6: 7 (7), 6: 4 it was after 2 hours and 37 minutes.
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Medvedev: "Cramped like crazy"
That he hadn't used his first match balls almost exactly an hour earlier - a gift for tennis fans. And Medvedev was probably not entirely angry with his convulsive victory either. "It is probably one of the sweetest victories of my entire career," he stated after the game, "because I cramped like crazy in set 3." It is one thing when the cramps start, when you are in the lead and can handle the whole thing with the serve, said Medvedev, "but for me it started before. In this situation it was hard to believe in a win. "
According to the man from Russia, he already felt the match balls in set 2 that cramps would come.
The only thing he hoped, Medvedev said, was that he wouldn't fall. "Because if I had fallen, I would probably not have been able to get up. You have seen that a few times on the tennis court."
He felt the worst pain at 4: 3 in the third set, the serve, up to now "perhaps the worst in the match", saved him.
Medvedev: "Should have won in two sentences"
Medvedev went on to explain that his legs hadn't followed him, he couldn't bend or straighten them, "I had to hold out in the same posture, couldn't take a step larger than ten centimeters." Ultimately, the impact was the decisive factor. "Of course it's better to be able to pull the trigger and jump, but the shoulder and arm are a big part of it. So I knew I had to hit the serve, hit it hard, and that worked."
It was of course not easy for opponents Popyrin, Medvedev admitted. "He saw me stumble and said to himself, 'Okay, I'll bring a few balls back, he won't get them.' Then your hand trembles, you tense ... he made a few mistakes and I won. "
The crazy thing is, "that I should have won in two sets, then we wouldn't talk about all of that. But of course it's a match to remember."
The good thing for Medvedev and his legs: You have a break today. "Meddy" only meets Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday.
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