WHAT HAPPENED: So much has been made of American wildcard J.J. Wolf’s riveting run to Round 3 of the 2020 U.S. Open—his youth, his style, his hair—you’d almost forget he also has...an opponent. And that man is none other than the 2019 US Open men’s singles finalist Daniil Medvedev, the No. 3 seed from Russia.
Clearly, Medvedev didn’t manage to win the pre-match media game. But on court, he kept Wolf at bay, taking the often-thrilling match, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
The challenger nearly kept pace with the champion in the opening set. At just 21 years old, Wolf has an impressive array of weapons and he used them all—speed, drop shots, and some sparkling play at the net. The Russian’s style could not have presented a starker contrast. But while less dramatic, it was more efficient: Medvedev made only two unforced errors (to Wolf’s 12) and offered his opponent zero break opportunities. Medvedev took the set, 6-3.
At the start of the second set, Wolf hammered serves in the 130-mph-range, coming in to the net behind them. Lights-out play meant his tally of winners was equal to that of the Russian’s. But by the time the American dropped serve to go down 1-3, his unforced errors count had climbed as well—to 24, versus only 6 from Medvedev. When down 1-5, Wolf proved he had the belief to keep pressing: he managed to break Medvedev and then hold serve. But the Russian threw down an ace to close out the second set, 6-3.
The third set kicked off with an exchange of service breaks. Although the scoreline doesn’t tell the story, the American continued to run the Russian around, moving him from side to side and forcing him to sprint for drop shots. At 6-foot-6, the Russian is surprisingly speedy—and, literally, tireless. Medvedev shut down the last set, just short of two hours in, 6-2.
When asked about his opponent, “today was not enough,” Medvedev said in a post-match interview, although he admitted to throwing everything at him.
WHAT IT MEANS: Medvedev’s win buys him a ticket to the Round of 16—and a match against another young American, Frances Tiafoe, if Tiafoe wins his Round 3 match. If not, Medvedev will play Marton Fucsovics, the unseeded Hungarian who knocked out Grigor Dimitrov.
MATCH POINT: The kid’s got game and style. Much has been made of Wolf’s fashion sense, which recalls Andre Agassi’s at the 1990 US Open—the earrings, the headband, the mullet. Is Wolf’s pack of next-generation players bringing in a new era of style and swagger?
