2023 US Open SF: Alcaraz vs. Medvedev

[tented]

 

[don_fabio]

What happened last night?. Heard Meddy played lights out and very offensive last night.

 

[Kieran]

What happened last night?. Heard Meddy played lights out and very offensive last night.

I didn’t see it either but Danii describes it as a 12 out of 10 performance, which is great for him. Good to see him back at this level, reaching a slam final. The lack of expectancy around him seems to have benefited him…

 

[Jelenafan]

Okay, I’m gonna sound like an old crank here but it’s becoming a pet peeve of mine when players gesture to the crowd after a point, telling them ‘look what I just done, people - praise me!’

Carlos does it after highlight reel points and it shows a little swagger, he’s like a strutting cock with his finger behind his ear - ‘I can’t hear you!’ - but it’s overdone now. Ben Shelton was doing it endlessly, Danii does it often, flapping his arms like a desperate chickens wings, ‘raise the volume for me, people, don’t you understand what you’re seeing!’

Leave the crowd alone. They know what they’re seeing. They’ll cheer when they want. I know the crowd respond to this shit too but watching the old Sampras videos that @Vince Evert put up elsewhere, I was reminded of how classy he was, no fuss no muss, no self-aggrandising, no neediness, no care in the world if the crowd loved him or hated him. He didn’t need their love. He’d win a big point, maybe fist pump, maybe not, then slouch across to start the next point, his tongue hanging loose.

Rafa was the same. Look at my profile pic. The crowd went wild but Rafa wasn’t fist pumping for the benefit of the crowd. He’s couldn’t care less it they were booing him. He was in his own world battling to win…

Damn right Kieran. No demonstrably demanding love from the crowd so they would cheer him on.

Have to admit even Federer didnt resort to those histrionics to get the crowd to cheer him on.

Hmm..though Federer always had the crowd in his corner anyways so there was no need to ask for their support. So in Fed’s case never mind.

Dang, even when I intend to give Federer a compliment it backfires on me.

 

[Kieran]

Damn right Kieran. No demonstrably demanding love from the crowd so they would cheer him on.

Have to admit even Federer didnt resort to those histrionics to get the crowd to cheer him on.

Hmm..though Federer always had the crowd in his corner anyways so there was no need to ask for their support. So in Fed’s case never mind.

Dang, even when I intend to give Federer a compliment it backfires on me.

Yes! Federer loves himself so much he didn’t have room for any more. If he was gelato, he’d lick himself to death…

 

[Moxie]

What happened last night?. Heard Meddy played lights out and very offensive last night.

It started out all Carlitos, and Meddie looked nervous and overmatched. Hadn't got his serve working. But he broke back with Carlos being a bit sloppy, then finally played a great tie-break, and it felt liked he stolen a set that was destined to go to Alcaraz. However, momentum and form shifted drastically at the start of the 2nd. Medvedev continued his great form from the latter part of the first/tb in the first, and Carlitos had rather come back to earth. Medvedev was very impressive. He was offensive...for Medvedev. But he had some miraculous passing shots, too.

 

[mrzz]

Damn right Kieran. No demonstrably demanding love from the crowd so they would cheer him on.

Have to admit even Federer didnt resort to those histrionics to get the crowd to cheer him on.

Hmm..though Federer always had the crowd in his corner anyways so there was no need to ask for their support. So in Fed’s case never mind.

Dang, even when I intend to give Federer a compliment it backfires on me.

It can be read otherwise. He was in a position like no other to act like a "maestro". If he would raise his pinky finger a millimeter after one his many great points, the crowd would go wild for ten minutes. So, nobody ever had the incentive he had, and still...

So you actually gave Federer a giant compliment.

 

[tented]

It started out all Carlitos, and Meddie looked nervous and overmatched. Hadn't got his serve working. But he broke back with Carlos being a bit sloppy, then finally played a great tie-break, and it felt liked he stolen a set that was destined to go to Alcaraz.

There were no breaks of serve in the first set. They each held serve to get it to the tiebreak. Alcaraz only broke once, in the third set. (He was 1/9 BP conversion — a terrible stat)

 

[rafanoy1992]

There were no breaks of serve in the first set. They each held serve to get it to the tiebreak. Alcaraz only broke once, in the third set. (He was 1/9 BP conversion — a terrible stat)

Medvedev serve well and clutch in the 1st two sets of the match.

One ”weakness” that you can exploit against Alcaraz is that if you serve well against him, he will start pressing and rushing on his returns.

Zverev and Sinner did it last year at RG and Wimbledon, respectively. Djokovic has been doing it in all four of their meetings. Finally, Medvedev did it last night. Bonus fact: Hurkacz frustrated him at Cincy with those clutch serves before Hurkacz started to choke in the 3rd set.

By no means Alcaraz is a horrible returner. He is a very good returner and have a knack in returning at the right moments of the match. But if you serve well throughout the match, he will get flustered on his returns.

 

[Jelenafan]

It can be read otherwise. He was in a position like no other to act like a "maestro". If he would raise his pinky finger a millimeter after one his many great points, the crowd would go wild for ten minutes. So, nobody ever had the incentive he had, and still...

So you actually gave Federer a giant compliment.

 

[Moxie]

There were no breaks of serve in the first set. They each held serve to get it to the tiebreak. Alcaraz only broke once, in the third set. (He was 1/9 BP conversion — a terrible stat)

View attachment 8795

That tells you how much I was sure the break was coming for Carlos during much of that first set. LOL!

 

[El Dude]

I wanted to chime in with some impressions after watching Carlos's press interview. First of all, he seemed a bit shell-shocked -- he's played so well this year that it seemed like a bit of a coming back down to earth. He almost seemed on the verge of tears at points. But I loved the joke about Daniil hitting the ball from his "house."

I was impressed with his attitude: his respect for Daniil's performance and, more importantly, his desire to figure out how to improve his game. Yet another thing Carlos has going for him: He seems to realize that the truly great players never stop learning or improving. He's not going to rest on his laurels and, in a way, this loss may actually serve him in the long-run.

In the Novak-Shelton thread, I contrasted Shelton's "American cockiness" with Alcaraz. Listening to Alcaraz's conference after Shelton's made me appreciate Carlos even more than I already do. Just a great kid, with a mature attitude. Maybe it is a Spanish thing, because it reminds me of Rafa, who I always appreciated for his humility. Rafa never seemed to take for granted his big wins, even when he was owning Roger. Humble, but not in a fake way. Carlos seems cut from the same cloth.

 

[kskate2]

What happened last night?. Heard Meddy played lights out and very offensive last night.

I missed it too, but am not surprised Charlie lost. I said in the QF that the kid had to be at 90% to even tangle w/ Meddy on HC. 1/9 BPs against the elite is not going to get it done. Not converting those BPs bleed into other parts of his game.

 

[don_fabio]

I missed it too, but am not surprised Charlie lost. I said in the QF that the kid had to be at 90% to even tangle w/ Meddy on HC. 1/9 BPs against the elite is not going to get it done. Not converting those BPs bleed into other parts of his game.

Yes, his BP conversion was bad.

After I watched the replay, I really felt he was a better player in the 1st set, he pushed a lot on Meddy's serve and played some loose shots when he had chances to convert. Once he lost a 2nd set, Meddy increased his level and played amazing set of tennis and was 2 sets up in no time. Meddy stayed extremely focused just until he served for the match. Even when Meddy lost a set his game never fell apart. He was silent, prepared the tactics with his coach and did the job in the old way, never said a word to his box which I think is great. They played 2 crucial games in 4th set, one was at 3:2 for Meddy on Charlie's serve when Charlie lost it due to overdoing serve and volley tactic. Then the last game when Meddy served for the match he was there for the taking, but Alcaraz was tight to take advantage. Meddy survived and took the win.

I can't remember when Medvedev played this good against the opponent that beat him easily 2 times this year. Really rised up to the occasion, he was all over the place chasing every ball, played so deep too, plus he had more highlight reel shots than Alcaraz. Really gutsy performance with a belief that he can win it.

 

[don_fabio]

It started out all Carlitos, and Meddie looked nervous and overmatched. Hadn't got his serve working. But he broke back with Carlos being a bit sloppy, then finally played a great tie-break, and it felt liked he stolen a set that was destined to go to Alcaraz. However, momentum and form shifted drastically at the start of the 2nd. Medvedev continued his great form from the latter part of the first/tb in the first, and Carlitos had rather come back to earth. Medvedev was very impressive. He was offensive...for Medvedev. But he had some miraculous passing shots, too.

That part of the match when Alcaraz made a few passing shots with fh dtl was just wow. Yeah, Meddy was really offensive, I think that was a major difference this time they played. Basically you can't win against Alcaraz with defensive play only like Meddy tried before and failed.

 

[Fiero425]

That part of the match when Alcaraz made a few passing shots with fh dtl was just wow. Yeah, Meddy was really offensive, I think that was a major difference this time they played. Basically you can't win against Alcaraz with defensive play only like Meddy tried before and failed.

Meddy's playing a lit'l defensively! He's back so far behind the baseline; esp. on the ROS! Too often he'd hit a nice offensive shot then stayed deep instead of pushing the advantage by taking the net away! The few times he did take the net, his volleys weren't biting!