The questions began well before Daniil Medvedev nearly beat Rafael Nadal in his first major final at the 2019 US Open. As the No. 5 seed Russian progressed through each round in New York, overcoming cramps, quad pain and shoulder aches, the doubts about Medvedev playing deep into the second week at the US Open grew only louder.
Already this summer, the 23-year-old had made three finals, in Washington, D.C., Canada and Cincinnati, where he beat Novak Djokovic en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 title. Medvedev had played 16 matches before the summer's final hard-court event, the two-week US Open. Nadal, to compare, had prepared for the season's final major with only four hard-court matches.
“I was feeling really tired physically in Cincinnati, but I [did a] great job with my team to be 100 percent here,” Medvedev said before the Open. The Russian, himself, brought up the other looming question, calling out his need to perform better in five-setters. Medvedev, who had never made a major quarterfinal, was 0-4 in five-set matches. “I haven't been that good in them, especially in four or five sets, so I need to get the experience of playing them more and to win some,” he said.
Consider Medvedev 2-for-2 in Flushing Meadows. Despite falling, 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, in the final, he pushed past the physical pain and the mental blocks for the best Grand Slam tournament of his career, and, to boot, he earned legions of new fans with his honest words and endearing character.
“This year a lot has changed for me, including this final,” he said.
The Russian had received boos earlier in the tournament, after snatching a towel away from a ballperson and giving a certain gesture to fans, but those wounds were officially closed.
“I just want to thank all the fans throughout this week who supported me. You guys gave me amazing energy,” Medvedev said. “You were booing me for a reason. I never said that it was not. But you guys see that I can also change because I'm a human being. I can make mistakes, and again, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”
Not since Andre Agassi in 1995 had someone patched together a North American summer like Medvedev and reached the Washington, D.C., Canada, Cincinnati and US Open finals. Ivan Lendl also achieved the feat in 1982. All three, however, lost in the US Open final.
But the Russian more than answered any questions that hovered over his game. As he was down two sets and a break against Nadal, the 18-time major champion, Medvedev's mind wandered to his acceptance speech.
“I was already, 'Okay, what do I say in the speech? It's going to be soon, in 20 minutes. Anyway, I have to fight for every ball, and I have to see how it goes,'” Medvedev said. “It went far.”
The Russian, bludgeoning forehands past the Spaniard, forced a fifth set and had three break points as Nadal served down 0-1. But the three-time US Open champion saved them all and ignited the 23,000-plus fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “The way you are playing is a big joke. It's very tough to play against you,” Medvedev said of Nadal.
The two had watched images of all 19 of Nadal's major titles on the big screen in Ashe. “When I was looking on the screen, and they were showing No. 1, No. 2, No. 19, I was like, 'If I would win, what would they show?'”
Medvedev had barely challenged Nadal the last time they played, less than a month ago on Aug. 11 in the Montreal final, which Nadal won, 6-3, 6-0.
Since Montreal, however, Medvedev had beaten Djokovic, won four of his six US Open matches in four sets and made his first major title match. In other words, he was an altogether different player, and different person. “I was gaining experience every big match I played,” Medvedev said.
As many of the eyeballs searching for the Next Big Talent to challenge the Big Three of Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer have been directed to German Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Medvedev has quietly been the tortoise of the group, steadily improving his results. Before the 2018 US Open, he was outside the Top 50. On Monday, he'll be No. 4, and no one born in the 1990s, including two-time French Open finalist Dominic Thiem, has come closer to winning a major title.
“We're fighting our best to try to make this transition. It's really tough because these guys, they are playing good tennis,” Medvedev said. “It's really tough to beat them, even to get a set from them.”
The tortoise, however, always keeps moving.
“Have to give myself credit. I hope I grew a lot doing these things,” Medvedev said. “But I need to continue, and I need to be better.”
