Nadal was always going to win yesterday's final, even after a brave fight back from the young gangly Russian which lead to a dramatic fifth set. While many were feeling it was Medvedev's to lose after he came back from two sets down and looked confident and dominant, Nadal was an 18 time Grand Slam winner and is now a 19 time winner. He's just one shy of Federer's record and easily has a few more years yet to go at the top where he could eclipse the Swiss. Something told me and I'm sure others that Nadal would still come through even after letting Medvedev back into the match. But the Spaniard's experience in these sorts of finals made the difference, he's a fighter until the death and that along with is sheer consistency at the back made the difference between the two here. Yes Medvedev is admirable defender but Nadal more so.
While we can sit back and admire all of Nadal's 19 Grand Slams including 12 at Roland Garros, Medvedev showed that there is still promise of better to come from the new generation. Whether that promise goes beyond his own racket is still a burning question that needs answering but atleast we have a relatively young player (23 years old) showing he can mix it with the best unlike the rest of the next gen. He took two convincing sets of Nadal with clear breaks.
Contrast that to any other young player on tour who has reached a final (actually only one has) which is Dominic Thiem (26) who has taken just one set off Nadal in two French Open finals.
Medvedev has had an outstanding year in contrast to the rest of the young pack, while being 50 wins to 17 losses already, he has claimed his first Masters title in Cincinatti and reached a further 5 finals including two 500 events, one Masters and of course now a Grand Slam. If the youngster they call "the bear" can maintain his fitness he has a great chance of claiming a slam over the next few years.
In the final vs Nadal many fans for the first time got to see Medvedev's true talent. Stallwart defense from the back including a great forehand slice from deep, a forehand capable of both calculated defense and flat winners. But he also won many forecourt exchanges and applying pressure to stop Nadal dictating everything from the back, subtle passing shots off his backhand. Take a look at the highlights below:
There is plenty of the hard court season left to play, with the Asian and Middle Eastern tours yet to kick off. So Daniil could yet add more silverware to his collection. More crucial than that, I would like to see him face off vs the big 3 more regularly and start to get some wins under his belt while he is young.
He has already won twice against Djokovic this year in Masters events (2-3 head to head now) but is 0-3 vs Federer and now 0-2 Nadal so he now needs to work on his strategy to overcome two of the best players men's tennis has ever seen.