Tactics are only effective when you have a clear idea of what you’re up against. Daniil Medvedev is widely regarded as one of the finest tacticians in the game, but by the latter stages of his 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells, the Russian looked utterly perplexed by the scale and variety of the assault aimed at him.
In Alcaraz, Medvedev faced an opponent with so many options at his disposal that it barely mattered what he did. When he tried to stay with the Spaniard from the baseline, he was either out-rallied or simply blown away by the 19-year-old’s weight of shot. When he tried to hit through the slow conditions himself, he too often strayed into error, his flatter strokes affording him little margin in the swirling desert wind.
On the rare occasions he ventured to the net, Medvedev was passed with almost contemptuous ease. Conversely, when Alcaraz went forward, the Russian was rarely able to find a way past an opponent equipped with lightning reflexes and, it seemed, a volley for every occasion, either punched or caressed as the situation demanded. Alcaraz’s signature drop shots, exquisitely executed in the unrelenting breeze, posed a constant threat as Medvedev went about his business from his favoured position deep behind the baseline.
Never mind Plan B, Alcaraz ran the full gamut of plans from A-Z. It was a masterful compilation of work, even by Alcaraz’s stratospheric standards. The pièce de resistance came late in the second set, when the Spaniard conjured three consecutive drop-shot winners. On each occasion, Medvedev, one of the game’s most dogged and resourceful retrievers, barely moved a muscle. Phenomenal.
Medvedev began the contest infused with all the certainty of a man on a 19-match winning streak; by the end, he was barely able to comprehend what had just happened, let alone why.
“Why didn’t I play my best? I don’t know,” reflected Medvedev. “Maybe it was his ball. Maybe it was the wind – it was pretty windy today, and for him it was easier to go through this wind, and that’s normal. That’s what’s easier to do for him. So I have no real reasons, and sometimes in tennis you don’t have them.”
Fittingly, after a performance of such magnitude and maturity, Alcaraz earned not only a third Masters 1000 title – only his compatriot Rafael Nadal, with six, has won more as a teenager – but also a return to the top of the rankings. Dislodged as No 1 by Novak Djokovic after a hamstring injury left him unable to compete at the Australian Open, Alcaraz will cede it to the 22-time grand slam champion again should he fail to defend the 1,000 points he earned for last season’s victory at the Miami Open, where he will open his campaign on Friday. A fascinating tug-of-war lies in prospect.
“It feels great to be back [at] No 1,” said Alcaraz following his rapid-fire win in an hour and 10 minutes. “Of course, every player on the ATP [Tour] wants to be No 1, and for me it’s a dream come true again. Being in front of such great players like Novak, like the top players, for me, it’s an amazing feeling.
“Novak is one of the best players in the world. That’s obvious. You know, I will say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I really wanted to play against Novak again. We miss him on tour, and hope to have him back very, very soon. It would be amazing to play against him again.”
While not exactly a cloud on Alcaraz’s horizon, the absence of Djokovic, who remains unable to enter the United States because of his decision not to take a Covid vaccine, remains a talking point. The Serb was also missing when Alcaraz lifted the US Open title last September, precipitating his rise to No 1, and the pair have played just once so far, Alcaraz prevailing in three sets in the semi-finals of last year’s Madrid Open. Yet you can only beat the players in front of you and Medvedev, a former US Open champion and world No 1 himself, roundly rejected the notion that his younger rival’s status lacked legitimacy without Djokovic in the field.
“For sure if he would be able to play last year and this year all the tournaments, there is a possibility that the rankings would be different,” said Medvedev. “But there should be no ‘buts’. Carlos is deservedly world No 1. He won more points than everybody else in last 52 weeks, and that’s how rankings work.”
Alcaraz certainly won plenty of points against Medvedev, dominating the scoreboard throughout and converting each of his three opportunities to break. In a match Medvedev never led – he lost 12 of the first 15 points in the opening set, and 10 in a row at the start of the second – did he do enough to change the direction of travel?
“It was not easy, because I tried, for sure,” said Medvedev. “That’s what I try to do all the time if something is not working, but he was kind of cutting the rhythm well.
“When I say ‘cutting the rhythm’, you know, when the guy serves 130[mph] on the “T” and you don’t return it, [there’s] not much you can change. Then, I don’t know, the moment I started feeling like maybe I was getting a little bit better in the rally and missing less – I was missing a lot for whatever reason – he did this game where he did three dropshots in a row.”
Even Medvedev’s serve, the cornerstone of his game, offered scant refuge, the 27-year-old landing only 65% of his first serves – about 10% lower than his average – and winning just 41% of the points behind the second ball. The contrast with Alcaraz, who tempered the pace of his delivery early on in deference to the blowy conditions, and did not face a break point throughout, was pronounced.
“I have no doubts about my shots,” said Alcaraz. “I feel really comfortable on court. I really trust in every shot that I hit. That’s why I’m playing a great level, because if I miss, I don’t mind.”
As Medvedev discovered – along with Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and everyone else Alcaraz faced at an event where he did not drop a set – it is hard to legislate for such certainty. Sometimes, even the best-laid tactical plans are not enough.