Novak Djokovic vs Daniil Medvedev: US Open Men's Singles Final Prediction

US Open Men's Singles Final Prediction: 

Finally, the day has come when the current 3 generations will witness the Calendar Grand Slam, a feat which has been achieved only 6 times since Inception.

1932 Don Budge - Men

1953 M Connelly - Women

1962 and 1969 Rod laver - Men

1970  Margaret Court - Women

1988  Steffi Graf - women (she also won the Olympic gold medal in the same year making it golden grand slam)

Now Djokovic has won all three grand slams in 2021, the Australian Open, the French Open and the Wimbledon and he is one step away to join the coveted group. 

Further, if he wins the US Open, then he will win his 21st grand slam, more than any other tennis player including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have won 20 each.

Novak Djokovic has stated that he will play the final as if he is going to play the last match of his life, in other words, this match means everything to him.

Obviously, when Novak was emerging as potential champ, Federer was ruling the courts. When the Serb was at his prime, Nadal was dominating the tennis scene, however, Djokovic was always catching up with Federer or Nadal. 

So he stayed in their shadow by media in spite of the fact he holds a positive career record against both Federer and Nadal.

⍟ Against Federer, he has won 27 and lost 23.

⍟ Against Nadal, he has won 30 and lost 28.

Still, Federer and Nadal were rated above him.

Now he faces Medvedev in the finals, who is hungry for his first Grand Slam victory and the US open has been his best hunting ground.

Game styles of Medvedev and Djokovic:

Danil Medvedev has modeled his game similar to that of Djokovic.

⍟ Service: Both players have effective serves, however, Medvedev has the quicker serves.

⍟ Backhand: Both play exquisite backhand cage games and there is nothing to chose between them.

⍟ Forehand: Djokovic can put his wrist to better use to change direction but Medvedev has more power.

⍟ Volley: Djokovic can play on the net as well as anyone so he holds the edge.

So Game-wise both are equal but Djokovic scores on 2 grounds. Firstly court coverage and secondly mental strength. In terms of mental strength, no one can match him and his record of five-set matches is a testimony.

Performance in US open:

⍟ Djokovic has played 24 sets and he has lost 1st set on many occasions. On the other hand Medvedev has played 19 sets so he has lost only 1 set.

⍟ Djokovic has spent 17 hrs 26 mins on the court, whereas Medvedev has spent on 11 hrs 51 mins.

⍟ Djokovic leads the head to head 5-3

His ripe age of 25 years is his biggest asset against 34-year-old Serbian.I recall the Australian open 2021 where Medvedev reached finals with aplomb but Djokovic decimated him.

So the match will be full of rallies, as in the semifinals Djokovic played 51, 31 touches rallies.

With his perseverance, Djokovic is going to frustrate Medvedev.

Final Verdict:

I expect a 3-hour match with crazy groundstrokes. And ultimately Djokovic will win in 4 sets and crown himself as GOAT.

Happy Viewing.

The match is at 1:30 am, India time so you need to make efforts to watch it live.

Featured Image Credits: US Open Twitter