Daniil Medvedev ‘completely deserved’ first Grand Slam, says former US Open champion

Last year’s US Open champion Dominic Thiem believes Daniil Medvedev ‘completely deserved’ his maiden Grand Slam title as he denied Novak Djokovic the Calendar Slam.

The Austrian, who was in Medvedev’s shoes just 12 months ago as he lifted his maiden Major title at Flushing Meadows, said the Russian was ‘sensational’ from start to finish.

Following Medvedev’s victory, the Russian star joins Dominic Thiem as the only two men born in the 90’s to win a Slam title.

“Medvedev didn’t care about all that,” said the 2020 US Open champion.

“He played sensationally from the beginning to the end, didn’t do anything stupid the whole match and on top of that he shot winners right and left from Djokovic.

“In addition, he served really well against the best return player. He completely deserved to win it.

“With the early break in the first set, he immediately got the momentum on his side and then played at a consistently really, really high level.

Whilst Medvedev put on an inspired performance, Thiem said that the pressure and tension evidently impacted the Serbian during the contest.

“On the other hand, you could see the tension Novak Djokovic was under – especially at the last exchange, where he was in tears,” said the Austrian.

“We saw what was going on inside him, also what he had accumulated in the last weeks and months.

“That is simply inhuman. I don’t know him that well, but I think he has a really good heart and has deserved the love of the whole audience here.

“We don’t need to talk about his sporting achievements anyway.”

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