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Novak Djokovic's dream of becoming the second man in the Open Era to complete the Grand Slam was shattered one step away from the finish line. After taking down the top three Slams of the season, the world number 1 made it to the final at the Us Open, but he was unable to put the icing on the cake.
Stuck in tension and physically exhausted, the Serbian phenomenon succumbed sharply to Daniil Medvedev in the final act at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. The attempt by the public to encourage the 34-year-old from Belgrade, who could not do much in front of a rival in top form, was useless.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion did not shine particularly in the previous rounds, as well as coming from a tremendous marathon in the semifinals against Alexander Zverev. The Russian, for his part, had benefited from a rather easy draw, which had put the inexperienced Felix Auger-aliassime in front of him on the way to his second final in the Big Apple.
In a recent interview with Sputnik, former Serbian Davis Cup selector Goran Bubanj analyzed Nole’s collapse at the US Open. Djokovic collapsed one step away from history He said: "Daniil Medvedev had a very comfortable draw, he didn't face great opponents along the way.
However, this did not automatically mean that he was starting favorite against Novak Djokovic in the title match. Often the exact opposite occurs in those cases. The progress of the final did not depend on Medvedev, but exclusively on Nole’s subdued performance." He also added: "If we analyze the moments of the match, there are a couple that played a decisive role.
First of all, the first game of the final was very important, in which Djokovic suffered the break despite being 40-15 ahead. There he made a series of gratuitous mistakes, including a double fault. You could see that he was under pressure from the start.
Then the start of the second set comes to mind. Novak held his batting game and had three consecutive break points on the Russian's serve. If he had used one, he would have fled at 2-0 and maybe we would have seen a totally different match.
The key for the Serbian was to lengthen the final in order to insinuate some doubts in Daniil's head."