Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic are going to face off in an interesting Australian Open final. Fans are divided about who is going to be the favorite. On one side, Novak is the world no.1 and he has won the Australian Open already 8 times. On the other, Medvedev is in supreme form with his 20-matches winning streak.
The injury
During the fortnight, Djokovic hit the headlines for his abdominal injury. It seemed as he was done during his match against Taylor Fritz. After winning the first 2 sets, Novak was struggling with his abdomen and it almost looked as he was about to fold. However, the Serbian champion is used to win in adversity and therefore he conquered the match in 5 sets.
That win sparked a big controversy since many found it weird how Djokovic could recover from seemingly being out of the match because of his physical conditions to miraculously recover in the decider. Some thought that Djokovic was faking an injury.
Medvedev was asked to elaborate about this controversy and he defended Djokovic saying that there was no point for him to fake an injury while he was comfortably leading by 2 sets.
“Against Fritz, I went to sleep. I actually thought he was gonna lose because we saw he was in pain. He couldn’t fake it to lose two sets. He was up. Next matches were for sure not easy,” said Daniil.
"He couldn't fake it" 😭
(Daniil, asked if he followed all the medical drama surrounding Djokovic at this AO)
🎥https://t.co/Fqtni9URnp pic.twitter.com/CvarvMdiIe
— Oleg S. (@AnnaK_4ever) February 19, 2021
Serena Wiliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou was caught in this controversy. Patrick said that “sometimes, Novak plays a bit with the mind of the opponent when he’s in trouble, pretending he’s giving up. And then, boom, he plays again. He’s done that a lot of time in the past, OK, but he never fakes an injury.”
Medvedev at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Currently the world no.4 (career-high), Medvedev has a 10-0 record in 2021. Daniil is competing at the Australian Open where he ousted Vasek Pospisil 6-2 6-2 6-4, Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2 7-5 6-1, Filip Krajinovic 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0, Mackenzie Mcdonald 6-4 6-2 6-3, Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-3 6-2 and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-2 7-5.
Daniil Medvedev will square off with Djokovic in the final. Their actual head to head record is 4-3 for Djokovic.
The Russian won 10 titles in his career: 5 on hard courts and 5 on indoor courts. (See the list of his titles)
Djokovic at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2021
At the moment ranked no.1, Djokovic achieved a compiled 8-0 record in 2021. Novak is playing at the moment at the Australian Open where he overcame Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-1 6-2, Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-73 7-62 6-3, Taylor Harry Fritz 7-61 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2, Milos Raonic 7-64 4-6 6-1 6-4, Alexander Zverev 6-76 6-2 6-4 7-66 and Aslan Karatsev 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Novak Djokovic will face Medvedev in the final. The head to head is 4-3 for Djokovic.
Novak won 82 titles in his career: 48 on hard courts, 15 on clay courts, 13 on indoor courts and 6 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic fought against each other 7 times. Their actual head to head record is 4-3 for Djokovic. The last time they played each other, Daniil Medvedev won 6-3 6-3 in the round robin in London (Nitto ATP Finals) in November 2020.
In the following video you can watch the key moments of their match.
