Gilles Cervara, Daniil Medvedev’s longtime coach, says playing Novak Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final is an “easy problem.”
By that, he doesn’t mean it will be easy to stop Djokovic from becoming the first man in 52 years to win the calendar-year Grand Slam. Rather, Cervara means that Medvedev knows exactly what he has to do to beat Djokovic and win his first major championship.
“You play probably the best player in the world, he’s here to win a Grand Slam… he’s ready to fight 10 hours on the court… He’s able to be aggressive, to come to the net, to serve good,” Cervara told USOpen.org.
“That’s why I say it’s simple: you have to be at least at the same level as him to beat him... If you are not at this level, you have no chance.”
It may be simple in theory, but as Medvedev and the rest of the men at the four major championships this year have discovered, it’s quite difficult – if not impossible – in practice.
Djokovic has won 27 consecutive matches at major championships, including a win against Medvedev at the Australian Open final in February. Now Medvedev is the only player standing between the Serbian and tennis history.
With a win on Sunday, Djokovic will celebrate a record-setting 21st Grand Slam title and join Aussie Rod Laver as the only men in the Open era to win the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Medvedev, however, also could make history by playing spoiler. “If I can make this, I'm probably be in the history books,” he said.
Djokovic leads their head-to-head 5-3, including his straight-sets win in Australia earlier this year. Cervara, though, isn’t stunned to see Medvedev in his second major championship final of the season and the third of his career, including the 2019 US Open final, where he fell in five sets to Rafael Nadal.
“We practice day after day to live what happened in U.S., so we are not surprised at all,” Cervara said. “It’s like normal to be there.”
Cervara is hoping those experiences in major finals will help Medvedev have the right expectations and mindset against Djokovic on Sunday.
“I think [he] gets more experience to realize how good you have to be in... such a match, how good you need to increase your level and also your energy, your mindset, your spirit,” Cervara said. “You have to find this inside of yourself.”
