Are we back in 2021? The year when Medvedev and Tsitsipas were reaching Grand Slam finals and were among the leading contenders for the big titles! These two along with Zverev and Thiem (the 90s generation) were expected to take over from the Big Three and were slated to share the Majors amongst themselves. But the Big 3 kept standing tall, despite this lot reaching multiple Grand Slam finals. And now the 2000s generation of Sinner and Alcaraz has taken over, leaving the 90s generation with only two Majors (US Open 2020 – Thiem, US Open 2021 – Medvedev) up until Zverev won 2 more Majors this year.
Medvedev and Tsitsipas might not be in their prime now, but given their quest to regain some of their former glory, this rivalry still held the same intrigue, at least amongst the tennis loyalists. The fact that they have an edgy relationship makes it even more interesting. And the match did not disappoint.
Match analysis – Medvedev vs Tsitstipas, Shanghai Masters 2016
Medvedev came out playing some of his best tennis of the year. He was making the Tsitsipas serve look ordinary, landing nearly every return deep and playing with extreme aggression from the baseline. He was rushing the Greek with his flat groundstrokes and maintaining exceptional baseline consistency. His own serve was on fire, serving most of the time to Tsitsipas’ backhand, which the Greek could barely block. The fact that the Tsitsipas backhand is a weakness is no secret, but players need to be wary of his forehand. Even while being stretched, he can generate great pace on the forehand wing and redirect it cross court with power.
The performance rating confirmed it when Medvedev had a rating of 9.1 for the first set, his tied second highest rating of the year! Another contributing factor was that Tsitsipas was not finding the corners on his first serve, which allowed Medvedev to return with ease from his deep return position. On the few times that Tsitsipas came to the net, his approach was unconvincing and late, which allowed Medvedev to hit passing shots with pace, finding the angles at the same time.
The Greek faced at least one break point in each of his first four service games of the match. But he did well to keep the set close at only one break down, despite the Russian applying pressure in every return game. Tsitsipas did well to hold at 2-4, 15-40 down and ended up saving 5/6 break points in the first set. But the Greek’s resilience was not enough, as Medvedev’s level did not drop in the entire set and he closed it out 6-4, losing only 2/15 points on his first serve.
The second set was much more competitive as Tsitsipas started playing more aggressive, finding the spots on his serve to set up his favoured plus-one forehand. Coming to the net also paid dividends for the Greek as he won 10/11 points at the net in the second set. Tsitsipas started hitting more over the ball on his backhands, even drawing Medvedev to the net with a low slice, only to finish the point with his forehand drive. At 2-2 in the second set, a long rally culminated in a one-handed down-the-line backhand winner by the Greek, lighting up the fans in the stadium. On the very next point he hit another similar shot which the Russian somehow managed to get around and whip a forehand cross-court curling shot. Even though Tsitsipas reached the ball, he thought it was going out and let It go by. The automated out call never came and the misjudgement cost Tsitsipas the point.
Tsitsipas kept applying pressure, but Medvedev never really gave him an opening. The Russian kept finding good serves on crucial points and his movement helped him counter Tsitsipas’ forehand pace well.
Tennis is a game of mental fortitude. As both players were holding serve with confidence, it takes only one bad game, one slight dip of concentration to lose the match. And that’s what happened at 5-5, with Tsitsipas not getting any free points on his serve and committing four consecutive unforced errors to gift the break of serve to Medvedev. The Russian took full advantage to close out the second set 7-5 and sealing the match with an overall performance rating of 8.9 and booking his place in the quarterfinals for a third time in a row. He is only the sixth man in ATP history to reach at least four quarterfinals at the Shanghai Masters.
Medvedev did not even face a single break point in the entire match, reflecting how dominant he was. It was a tactically sound performance. He is now 11-5 in the head-to-head against Tsitsipas. In his post-match on-court interview, he mentioned how fast the Stadium court felt today compared to the outside courts. He will now face Tommy Paul in the quarterfinal who beat Zizou Bergs in straight sets in the round of 16.
This Medvedev was reminiscent of the 2019-2022 Medvedev, penetrating groundstrokes with consistent depth, sliding across the court, hitting the first serve with pace and accuracy and hardly giving away any free points. In my opinion, the 2019 Shanghai Masters champion has a real shot at winning another Masters 1000 this week. And the prospect of qualifying for Turin should provide further motivation, given that he is currently 8th in the race and there are multiple other players still in contention.
