Tennis
Medvedev’s unreal feat at Wimbledon! On the character made a daring American
Daniil Medvedev / Photo: © REUTERS / Toby Melville
The Russian tennis player with great difficulty made it to the semi-finals.
Positive expectations on the eve of the Wimbledon quarter-finals for Russian fans quickly dissipated. On the first day, Safiullin and Rublev dropped out of the fight.
All hope remained on Daniil Medvedev. Dana got a much more convenient opponent than his compatriots. At least, so it seemed to many experts before the match.
However, the American created a lot of problems for our tennis player. I had to make superhuman efforts to win!
Promising start
If someone had said a year ago that Christopher Eubanks would play in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, they would have been laughed at. However, the 27-year-old American showed a fantastic breakthrough from the second hundred to 43rd position in the ATP rankings.
A tall and wiry tennis player knocked out the eminent Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas with a furious serve in the previous round. Nevertheless, for Medvedev, he still looked like a more convenient opponent than the Greek.
This year, the Russian and the American have already played each other in Miami: then Medvedev easily won in two sets (6:3, 7:5). It remains to be hoped that this time there will be no problems.
In the first set, Dana managed to defend effectively, which led to the victory in the set. The development of events was reminiscent of a meeting with the Czech Jiri Legechka, when Medvedev achieved a positive result due to a good start.
Reincarnation
However, the beginning of the second set was a cold shower for the Russian. Medvedev could not catch on to Eubanks’s powerful serves, who took draw after draw without a fight. In the fourth game, Dani had big problems: he allowed the American to earn three break points, which the opponent converted on the last attempt.
Break after such a calm first set was a revelation for the audience, so they began to support Eubanks at the top of their voices. And he did not think to let up. Christopher seemed to have a second wind, and luck suddenly switched to his side. Medvedev did not play worse, but against the background of the opponent he felt out of place.
Even leading 40:15 on his pitch, the Russian managed to let Eubanks in and allowed him the second break in the set. The daring American was sure of himself. His two aces eventually completed the result of the set – 6:1.
It seemed that the break between the games should benefit our player. But no matter how! Eubanks immediately made a break and won the first game of the third set, which became his sixth in a row in the match. Then the American also took his pitch to zero. Anger was clearly visible on Medvedev’s face.
In the next segment, Medvedev corrected himself, breaking the black streak. But this was not enough. The good reception and defense for which our tennis player is famous was absolutely pointless as Eubanks continued to pound the Russian with his killer serves.
With the score 3:4 (0:40), Medvedev decided to use his old and proven tactics: he threw the ball away after an unsuccessful reception, entered into a skirmish with the referee and received a warning. Danya, apparently, was counting on an emotional impulse, but it did not work. Medvedev again lost the set – 4:6.
game of nerves
Medvedev, it seems, himself could not believe what was happening. Having won the first game, he too quickly found himself in a state of catching up. I was glad that the Russian adjusted his pitch, and Christopher began to relax a little.
Eight games in the fourth set were played in 29 minutes, another indication that the serve was almost everything in this quarter-final. By the number of aces, our player surpassed Eubanks, but the main goal was to take the game on the pitch of Christopher. Unfortunately, the American did not make such gifts. The game quickly went to a tie-break.
Dana managed to make a mini-break almost immediately, but Eubanks won it back. In the second run on the pitches of the American, Medvedev again won the most important rally and took the lead 4:3. Then he took the initiative into his own hands and earned a triple set point, which he managed to realize on the second attempt. This set was left for the Russian – 7:6 (7:4).
Experience
Christopher started the final set terribly: the Russian had as many as three break points. And it all ended with a double American mistake.
Medvedev took the lead 2-0 and made another break point, which he converted again thanks to an opponent’s mistake. Eubanks also lost the pitch, and at the same time his game faded. The key moment of the game came in the fourth game, when Christopher had a chance to break back. However, at this tense moment, Danya pressed the opponent with a serve and kept the advantage – 4:0.
Then the game was more like a concert. Eubanks smiled, flirted with the audience and showed with all his appearance that he was more than pleased with the current result – to take two sets in a row from the third racket of the world. As a result, Medvedev took the decisive set with a score of 6:1, but this game definitely took more energy from him than planned.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.