Daniil Medvedev built a game that looks like nobody else's. He returns from six metres behind the baseline, lets the ball die on his flat, long groundstrokes, and turns a rally into a war of patience until the other man blinks. It is deep-court defence dressed up as attrition, and for one September night in New York it broke the best of all. In the 2021 US Open final he beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets, denying Djokovic the first calendar Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969 and taking his 1 major.
The rise did not stop there. On 28 February 2022 he reached world No. 1, and he holds the 2020 ATP Finals crown among 26 career titles. He also owns a hard-luck ledger: four more Grand Slam finals lost, at the Australian Open in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and the US Open again in 2023, the last two of those slipping away after he had led by two sets, one to Jannik Sinner. Russian by birth, he competes as a neutral athlete, without flag or anthem.
Two. That is how many Almaty titles Daniil Medvedev now owns, both in a row. He beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-7 6-1 6-3 on Sunday to defend the title he won in 2025, after losing the opening set in a tiebreak.
Match taleOne. That is how many games Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won in the opening set of the Shanghai Masters final, and he still beat Rafael Jodar 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to take the first Masters 1000 title of his career, the biggest of his three.
Match tale