Daniil Medvedev ends Novak Djokovic’s historic dream of Winning all four Grand Slam tournaments this year

With a startling display of power and creativity, Daniil Medvedev put a stunning end to Novak Djokovic’s quest of becoming the first man in 52 years to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over the Serbian in the US Open final. 

Sunday night wasn’t only the third time in Medvedev’s career that he would be playing in a major final. It was also a perfect night for him to avenge a straight-set defeat he suffered to Djokovic earlier this year in the Australian Open final. 

This is the first Grand Slam honour for the Russian Daniil Medvedev (after tasting defeats in the 2021 Australian Open final and 2019 US Open final) at the expense of the Serbian Novak Djokovic that would have finally limped over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with a record 21st major title and officially become the greatest player of all time.

If Djokovic had won in the US Open final against Medvedev, he would have become the third tennis player after Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) to claim the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open in the same calendar year. 

Djokovic, in his press conference after his tie against Medvedev, admitted being disappointed for not eventually ending the year with the holy grail feat: 

“Of course, part of me is very sad. It’s a tough one to swallow, this loss, considering everything that was on the line.” 

“I was just below par with my game. My legs were not there. I was trying. I did my best. I made a lot of unforced errors. I had no serve really.”

“It was a very demanding period for me in the last five, six months. Everything was coming together for me here and kind of accumulating all the emotions that I’ve been through.”

“I was glad it was over because the build-up for this tournament and everything that mentally, emotionally I had to deal with throughout the tournament in the last couple of weeks was just a lot. It was a lot to handle.”

Novak Djokovic’s failed to come to the party against Medvedev in the US Open Final

This wasn’t the first time top seed Djokovic was starting slowly and dropping his first set in his most recent matches. The 34-years-old might have thought he would do a comeback as usual and grow into the game but Medvedev was with his A-game and was all over him with an overwhelming number of aces – the Russian only allowed Djokovic a single break in the first set.

Instead of gaining momentum and coming out of the second set stronger, the Serbian showed cracking signs and even missed two break chances as Medvedev’s resilient brilliant display proved too much for Djokovic once again. 

Djokovic was once again on the trailing side in the third set as Medvedev quickly raced to a 4-0 lead as early as he can. A bout of nerves hit the Russian’s dominance when serving at 5-2 as he double-faulted on match point to allow Djokovic to secure his break. When Novak Djokovic held serve to bring the set to 5-4 Medvedev was on match point and double-faulted again. This could have been Djokovic’s moment to revive his game and pursue the tie to additional sets but Medvedev was careful enough not to waste another chance as he wrapped up the third set 6-4 to join the Grand Slam winners’ club.