John McEnroe in his words has described Daniil Medvedev as a “human backboard” and “a chess master” yet the tennis great doesn’t believe the lanky Russian can win the 2024 Australian Open final.
Medvedev has entered his 6th hardcourt major final with a series of brilliant comeback triumphs with the latest once coming against Alexander Zverev in the semifinal as he recovered from the brink of a straight set defeat to win in five despite losing the opening two sets.
Medvedev’s Friday’s match against the German took more than 4 hours to complete and finished late in the evening with the former’s time spent on court increasing to 20 hours and 33 minutes. Compared to that his Sunday’s final opponent has breezed through his matches at the competition and didn’t drop a set until his semifinal match with Djokovic which he sealed in 4 sets. The Italian has hit just 14 hours and 44 minutes on the court en route to final.
7-time Major Champion John McEnroe is a big admirer of Medvedev’s game but he feels the extended engagements on matchcourt will catch up with him on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
“He’s been known as a human backboard, but what he’s done is rather remarkable already,” the American told Eurosport.
“I already thought of Daniil Medvedev as a chess master, a brilliant strategist, he did it once again [in the semi-final] – he shifted gears, changed his return position, started attacking more, serving bigger.
“He did everything to get back into the match. But he’s played three five setters – Sinner has lost one set. So this would be truly remarkable if Medvedev can rise to the occasion once more, he’s got to be hurting physically.
“But I sort of thought that against Zverev, that the difference was that Zverev was hurting and it caught up to him as the match wore on. But Sinner will be fresh and that is the difference to me.”
Sinner only spent 3 hours on court during the semifinal against Djokovic while Medvedev played his third 5-setter of the tournament. For the former American No. 1 Sinner is a clear favorite for Sunday’s Championship match.
McEnroe added: “I think Sinner is the favourite, especially if you look at Medvedev’s playing time so far. He’s played over 20 hours of tennis so far. Sinner has always come through in three sets until the semi-finals.”