Tennis
“One of us will die.” Medvedev suffered a victory over Rublev in terrible conditions
Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev / Photo: © Matthew Stockman / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
In the Russian quarter-finals of the US Open, the weather came to the fore, not the game of the athletes.
The US Open-2023 quarterfinal match between Medvedev and Rublev promised an exciting spectacle, but brought real human drama.
Rublev on nerves
Danya is an uncomfortable opponent for Andrei. First of all, because of Medvedev’s style, which kills all the attacking power of Rublev in the bud. The ninth racket of the world often cannot use his strengths in matches against a compatriot, which is proved by the statistics of the meetings: six victories for Daniil against two for Andrei.
This season the players met only once, but in the final. In early March, in Dubai, the third racket of the world on hard easily dealt with Rublev in two sets – 6:2, 6:2.
The beginning of the meeting in New York was a disaster for the favorite. Danya lost 10 draws in a row, and it would be correct to say that Medvedev was simply absent from the court.
After the third game, the best Russian tennis player got down to business and confidently took his serve, and then made a break – 3:2. The game settled down, the audience began to taste the very juice of such matches: long draws of 20-25 strokes, Dani’s beautiful and impenetrable defense and, as always, Rublev’s killer blows.
Everything worked like clockwork until the score was 4:4. In the ninth game, Medvedev organized another break point for himself and immediately converted it due to Andrey’s mistake. Having lost a key draw, Rublev burst into an angry tirade against … the judge. The whole essence of the claims was that, according to Andrey, the arbitrator gave too little time to serve. He really turned on the timer a little early, without waiting for Rublev to use a towel to wipe his hands.
The skirmish lasted the entire pause, but did not change the situation on the court. Medvedev confidently closed the first game – 6:4. It is very easy to understand the emotions of his opponent: Rublev led 3-0, but still lost. A serious blow to the psyche.
unbearable heat
Before the start of a new game, Rublev continued to “shove” the arbiter. Emotions, which everyone, in fact, expected from the match, Andrey gave in full. But Dani’s patience did not last long. Even despite the fact that Medvedev immediately took the opponent’s serve and started the second set very comfortably, the calmness disappeared.
On his serve, with a tied score, the winner of the US Open-2021 managed to make two doubles in a row, thereby returning equality in the score. Following Danya fell first on the referee, and then on his box. Medvedev’s nerves played in favor of Rublev, who got another break and, as in the first set, took the lead 3:1.
However, this advantage again did not guarantee a quiet life for Andrei. Rublev lost the next three games – just an amazing transformation of Medvedev. A new round of events took place during a pause with the score 4:3 in favor of Dani. He called a medical worker who complained of breathing problems. Given the heat in the middle of the day in New York, such problems were not surprising. Although tennis players had played less than two hours by this point, it was already very difficult for them to be on the court.
Rublev could take advantage of the problems of his compatriot, but he failed to convert two break points, letting Danya go ahead – 3:5. Having gained confidence in this game, Medvedev finished off the set with another break to the cheers of the audience, among whom was swimming legend Michael Phelps. 6:4, 6:3.
“This is impossible”
The third segment of the meeting started according to the already familiar scenario: Rublev made a break and took the lead 2:1. In any other case, this should have pleased Andrey, but in this match it was alarming. I wanted to believe that a comeback was possible, but no one had any strength left: Medvedev again asked for help from doctors, who brought him a special inhaler that promotes normal breathing in 32-degree heat. Rublev sat in an embrace with a tube delivering cold air to his body and head.
How to survive in such weather conditions? It was this question that came to the fore in the third set. Of course, no one could stop the game, but everything that happened in the future defied any logic. Daniil made a return break, and Andrey showed himself in the same way.
Danya, in a micro-pause on his serve, sharply blurted out into the camera:
– This is impossible. One of us will die, and you will look at it,” the 27-year-old Russian appealed to the unbearable heat.
Why didn’t the organizers close the roof on Robert Ash Center Court? Considering that the first quarter-final took place in the midst of the heat, this could help the players a little.
But the Russians had to deal with the problems on their own. At the end of the set, Medvedev again performed his favorite trick – he won three games in a row and took the lead 5:4 before Rublev’s serve. Andrei was not killed by such an alignment. The tenth game of the set deserves a separate story. Rublev clung to the last for his pitch, made two double faults, played four match-balls, but Danya put the squeeze on and achieved his goal – 6:4, 6:3, 6:4. Rublev was again left without the semi-finals of the Major. For the ninth time.
Instead of a candy match, we got a misery match. And the heat and ill-conceived actions of the US Open-2023 team are largely to blame for this.
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.