Three months after winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open, Daniil Medvedev clinched the Davis Cup for the Russian Tennis Federation with a win over 2014 US Open champ Marin Cilic on Sunday. After Novak Djokovic's Serbia were eliminated by Croatia in the semifinals, the Russian team dismissed the underdog challengers to become the last team standing at the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals in Madrid.
The Russians did not drop a singles point in the knockout rounds, and Medvedev was a perfect 5-0 throughout the competition. After beating hosts Spain and Ecuador to reach the quarterfinals, Mevedev and two-time US Open quarterfinalist Andrey Rublev put on a two-man show in the knockout rounds. The pair dropped just one set between them in their final six matches, clinching each of the knockout ties before the doubles rubber.
After getting past Sweden and Germany to reach the final, the Russian duo completed a third singles sweep against Croatia sealed the title.
"It feels amazing," Medvedev said following the victory. "But I'm more happy for the team than for myself. We have an amazing team, amazing atmosphere. I'm happy to be part of it and bring the points we need."
The Russian squad also included Karen Khachanov, Aslan Karatsev and Evgeny Donskoy. Karatsev and Rublev teamed up to win the only live doubles rubber of their campaign, defeating Spain in a three-setter to secure the top spot in Group A.
In the final, Rublev opened with a 6-4, 7-6 win over former Wake Forest star Borna Gojo, before Medvedev kicked off the celebrations with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Cilic. Despite drawing the ire of some Spanish fans with his celebrations following his victory over Pablo Carreno Busta in the group stage, Medvedev won over the local crowd by the finale, following a script similar to his villian-to-hero US Open run in 2019.
"I’ve been telling you since 2019, if you want me to lose, support me, don’t boo me," he joked in his on-court interview following the semifinal win over Germany.
The victory over Croatia gave the Russian Tennis Federation its third Davis Cup title, with the previous two coming in 2002 and 2006. It's also a second team title on the season for the Russians, who also won the 2021 ATP Cup on the backs of Medvedev and Rublev.
"Yeah, team competition is always special," Rublev said in a post-final presser. "Normally we don't have much time to spend together. These kind of competitions, we have to be together almost every day, eat together, have breakfast together, spend time together. This is something special that we are missing, that we don't really have time to do. These kind of events, they give us this chance."
Added Medvedev: "Pretty amazing two weeks... It's never easy to come here at the end of the season but they were some of the best weeks of my career."
The 2022 Davis Cup Finals will see 16 teams compete across five cities for the title, an adjustment from the 18 teams and three cities (Madrid,Turin, Innsbruck) this year. Four nations have already qualified for the 2022 Finals—Russia and Croatia, by virtue of reaching the 2021 final, as well as wild card nations Great Britain and Serbia. The remaining 12 nations will be determined by qualifying ties.
