Take the footage of Daniil Medvedev’s five-set victory over Hubert Hurkacz on the Australian Open, return in time, and current it to a hardcore tennis fan in 1999. To their unsuspecting eyes, this is able to resemble a kaiju battle: cumbersome, long-limbed creatures inflicting a yellow ball to maneuver in methods nobody knew was technologically or bodily doable. But Wednesday’s quarterfinal match was an ideal snapshot of males’s tennis in 2024, populated as it’s by a number of big-serving stick figures with all-day stamina and comparatively passive sport plans.
This is not your dad’s Marat Safin, and even your older cousin’s Juan Martín del Potro. These dudes will not be pounding the ball on the earliest doable alternative, or hitting any given groundstroke all that tough. After the serves, nearly each ball was coolly finessed across the courtroom, as in the event that they had been content material to rally all day within the solar. And they did duel for 4 hours earlier than Medvedev triumphed, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to advance to his third semifinal in Melbourne.
Here’s the particular video I’d beam to the previous: the 6-foot-5 Hurkacz and 6-foot-6 Medvedev lunging to dig squash-shot retrievals out of the corners, monitoring down lobs and drop pictures, and scrambling over the courtroom with out tripping over their very own ft. This is uncommonly good motion and protection for a participant of any dimension:
Over one-fifth of the points in this match lasted longer than 9 pictures; that is not a determine you may see typically. Despite their dimension, neither participant hits the ball with sufficient energy to finish factors at will. Another issue is the ball on this match, which, as Medvedev noted after the match, performs super-fast when it is contemporary after which slows down drastically because it wears out. These circumstances led to numerous entertaining drawn-out exchanges, and a wretched workload over 5 units, which visibly wore out Medvedev over time, though he’s a famous ache fanatic. By distinction, Hurkacz by no means let slip a single signal of fatigue on this match. I don’t know how these large fellas handle.
Medvedev, the third seed at this match, has dominated onerous courts during the last a number of seasons, however the ninth-seeded Hurkacz really got here into this match with a 3-2 edge of their head-to-head. Hurkacz owes a lot of his success to the most effective serves on the earth, which wins him 88 % of his service video games (ranked second on the tour over the previous yr) and fantastically blends tempo with accuracy. He locations his serves effectively sufficient to use Medvedev’s typical deep return place—way back to it’s doable to face while without having to pay for a ticket—by aiming his serves out large and pulling him away from the middle of the courtroom.
In Wednesday’s match, Medvedev determined to preempt that tactic by standing proper on high of the baseline and blocking the returns into play, which I do not suppose I’ve ever seen him do persistently, though critics clamor for him to strive it. The outcomes had been blended, but it surely was fascinating to see him tinker with the only most cussed function of his sport. After the match, Medvedev explained the reasoning behind that adjustment: He decided that Hurkacz’s serve is so highly effective that the ball continues to stand up after bouncing, and by no means really sinks to a extra comfy top, even when he is standing in the back of the courtroom. He determined he may as effectively rise up and attempt to block it again with a shorter swing. (No tennis participant is extra clear about their on-court thought course of than Medvedev, so try the linked interviews above if you need take a look at how he thinks by way of these selections.)
Hurkacz misplaced the primary set after some free errors within the tiebreak, and momentum ebbed backwards and forwards within the second and third. When Medvedev broke serve early within the fourth set, he appeared to have secured the win. With no selection however to interrupt again, Hurkacz gained a flurry of 4 video games out of 5 to take the set and push to a decider. Here’s considered one of his greatest pictures from that sequence:
Hurkacz is a soft-handed volleyer, and at his greatest, he can use his large wingspan to lock down the airspace in the midst of the courtroom, as he did a number of instances whereas snatching away that fourth set. There are some simple flaws to his baseline sport, and he can commit some free errors right here and there, however he serves effectively sufficient to make sure that he is aggressive in each single set that he performs. This match was among the highest-level tennis Hurkacz has performed in his profession, and he’ll rise to a career-high No. 8 rating subsequent week.
Medvedev seemed depleted to start out the fifth set and referred to as on his participant’s field for a particular beverage. He managed to preserve vitality by nailing all his first serves and mixing in a bit of serve-and-volley to shorten the factors. That set him as much as squeeze out one final burst of concerted effort to interrupt serve at 3-3; from there he carried that benefit to the end, cashing in his second match level with a drop shot after which sending some flying kisses in direction of his coach. Down the stretch, it was basic tennis triage: Hurkacz really gained eight extra factors within the match general, however Medvedev gained the best ones. “I’m so destroyed right now,” the winner stated instantly afterward.
