The main tennis match of this summer for Russian fans, without exaggeration, is the Wimbledon semi-final. There hasn’t been anything better this season.

Medvedev, satisfied with his progress on the grass, faced the least desirable opponent along with Novak Djokovic. The first racket of the world, Carlos Alcaras, instills fear in any opponent, but our Danya has long taught that he is not afraid of anyone or anything.

True, this story was not for this match. There was no grand semi-final…

A depressing trend

The statistics of personal meetings between these tennis players is stingy. Danya won two years at Wimbledon in three sets, but then Carlos was still a young 18-year-old player. Now everything is different.

The main proof of this is the Spaniard’s easy victory over Medvedev at the end of March in the final of the hard tournament in Indian Wells (6:3, 6:2). Carlos is number one in the world, which means an absolute advantage that experts give him in almost any match.

In the first set, the opponents worked confidently on their serve until the middle of the party, and it was obvious that everyone was waiting for an opportunity to break. First of all, she introduced herself to Alcaraz, who in the eighth game managed to catch Medvedev on a not-so-efficient serve. As a result, the break and victory of the Spaniard in the first game – 6:3.

Photo: © Mike Hewitt / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The second segment of the match was not much different from the first. Carlos served fantastically, not allowing Medvedev to even think about a break. Power, speed, accuracy – everything was with the Spaniard. Dani did not have the opportunity to use his favorite game, since Carlos completed almost all the draws from the second hit on the pitch.

At the same time, the Spaniard understood well how to work on the Dani serve. In the third game, the first racket of the world made a break, which put Medvedev in an extremely difficult position. It is completely incomprehensible how to deal with such an opponent. The Russian spent the end of the second set quite sadly: he lost Alcaraz’s serve to zero and gave the Spaniard a triple set point. And although Dana managed to take the rallies twice, Carlos led 2-0 in sets (6:3, 6:3).

Sad Danya

It was frankly painful to look at our tennis player. In the third installment, Alcaraz again started stunningly: he took the pitch to zero. Medvedev was out of his depth and already looked like a loser. In the second game, he made two double faults, literally giving the opponent an advantage.

Of course, the Spaniard is not used to littering with such things – another break, already the fourth in the match. In Medvedev’s boxing, the cameras caught the doomed looks of his wife and coach. Gilles Servara never shows emotion, but on this occasion it seemed that he, too, had lost all hope. Completely empty eyes. Although before the match, Gilles admitted that Medvedev was determined to return the favor to Alcaraz for the defeat three months ago.

The third game also went to the Spaniard, and then the incredible happened. First, Medvedev’s serve went down. Then Danya got a triple break point – a unique case for this game. But the most remarkable thing is that our tennis player realized this advantage with the help of Carlos. Alcaraz made a double and gave the opponent hope. Nervous?

Photo: © Shi Tang / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Danya would not have been Danya if everything had gone smoothly. In the sixth game there was a key moment of the match. Alcaraz, in a classic story for himself, tried to immediately make a return break, leading 40:15. Medvedev bounced back with titanic efforts, but then gave the Spaniard a few more situations where he could gain an advantage. As a result, three more break points and the victory of 20-year-old Carlos in the game – 2:4.

But it was too early to be disappointed. Danya turned on and, despite the problems on the pitch, he really continued to fight at the reception. Carlos began to twitch, Medvedev showed great defense and aggression in attack – 3:4. Perhaps it was time to dream about a comeback, but the Russian again gave his serve.

Photo: © REUTERS / Dylan Martinez

It was already impossible to win this match. The third set ended with the same score as the previous two – 3:6, 3:6, 3:6. Danya was not perfect, but even an ideal Medvedev could hardly expect to win against such an opponent.