The class of one crying in the wilderness

Daniil Medvedev’s unbeaten streak at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments, which began in mid-February, has already reached 18 matches. Speaking at the BNP Paribas Open, a Masters 1000 competition with a prize pool of $8.8 million, the Russian tennis player, despite suffering an ankle injury this week, beat Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in two games and reached the semi-final stage for the first time in his career at this tournament.

The tournament in Indian Wells, a resort town with a population of several thousand people located in the California desert, began for Daniil Medvedev with a confident victory over the American Brandon Nakashima, and continued with a three-set meeting with the Belarusian Ilya Ivashko and very loud statements both directly and in a figurative sense. In the course of that game, the Russian not only resented the unduly slow, in his opinion, court coverage, but also started a shocking discussion with the judge on the tower about this, which got into a television broadcast and caused a wide resonance in the tennis world. In the next match, against two-time ATP Finals winner Alexander Zverev, who is trying to return to the top ten after a serious ankle injury, received last year at Roland Garros, the Russian’s verbal escapades continued.

And then the California cover seemed to decide to take revenge. In the course of another protracted rally, Medvedev’s right foot slipped and he fell onto the court.

By that time, Zverev had already won the first set on a tie-break, nevertheless, the Russian was able to get out of a critical situation, leaving behind a tie-break of the second game, and then the end of the third.

The Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who got Medvedev in the quarterfinals, is significantly inferior to Zverev in terms of his regalia. However, given the uncertain situation with the ankle, before this game, the fans of the Russian tennis player were anxious. Fortunately, the examination showed that he could continue the tournament. The next morning, during the warm-up, Medvedev’s leg still bothered him, who had to take an anesthetic pill, but as the match progressed, he felt better and better.

Davidovich Fokina is a rival from whom a month ago in the first round of the tournament in Rotterdam and started Medvedev’s current unbeaten streak. Moreover, the enormous self-confidence, often mentioned by the Russian in an interview, was born directly during the match in which the Spaniard took the first set.

The scenario of their current meeting turned out to be simpler, although it cannot be called an easy walk for Medvedev.

The outcome of each of the games was decided by the game he won on someone else’s serve, and in the second set Davidovich Fokina had six break points. Moreover, in the course of the protracted seventh game on the serve of Davidovich Fokina, which consisted of 18 rallies, Medvedev fell again and, with the help of a rough coating, tore off the skin on the thumb of his right hand, which immediately had to be sealed by the doctor called to the court. But here everything worked out. His own effective delivery, as well as the Spaniard’s insufficient ability to cope with psychological pressure at decisive moments, predetermined the outcome of the game, which lasted 1 hour 46 minutes and ended with a score of 6:3, 7:5.

Thus, Medvedev’s unbeaten streak at ATP tournaments has already reached 18 matches. For Russian tennis players, this is the second figure in history.

The record also belongs to Medvedev, who at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 at the Masters in Paris, the final ATP tournament in London, as well as the ATP Cup team tournament in Melbourne and the Australian Open, did not lose 20 matches in a row. As for other Russians, among them the best indicator is Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who in 1996 did not lose 14 meetings in a row – at the ATP team tournament in Dusseldorf, the French Open triumphant for himself, as well as the grass competition in Halle.

Now the 16th racket of the world, Francis Tiafoe, will try to stop Medvedev, who also dealt with Briton Cameron Norrie in two games. In four previous meetings, also held on hard, the Russian gave the American only one set, but it should be borne in mind that the last time their paths crossed in the spring of 2021 and since then Tiafoe has made great progress. In particular, last season at the US Open he beat Rafael Nadal and reached the semi-finals, where he fought for almost four and a half hours with the future champion Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who was able to break his resistance in only five games.

Evgeny Fedyakov