Everyone knew Felix Auger-Aliassime had the talent to trouble Daniil Medvedev. The uncertainty lay in whether he could express his undoubted ability to winning effect at the business end of a grand slam. When the pair met in the semi-finals of the US Open last September, Medvedev swept aside the rising Canadian in straight sets. The Russian went on to win his first major title; Auger-Aliassime went home.
This time was different. Auger-Aliassime did things we didn’t know he could do – not at this rarefied level, at any rate. He bullied Medvedev from the back of the court. He picked holes in the Russian’s defensive game. He traded backhands with his opponent, probing the world No 2’s stronger wing, and frequently came out on top. He out-served Medvedev, and not just for a set or two. Over the course of the full four hours and 42 minutes, Auger-Aliassime landed more first serves than his opponent and won more points when he did so. He struck 18 aces, three more than Medvedev, and hit five fewer double faults. He even won an identical number of points, with the final tally 182 apiece.
And no, he couldn’t maintain it. Auger-Aliassime’s boldness and athleticism carried him to the threshold of victory, only for Medvedev to slam the door in his face just as he had one foot poised over the doormat. That, though, is an issue of experience rather than ability. The Canadian has never been in such a position before, certainly not on a stage of this magnitude. But he is 21 years old, and the match point he held at 5-4 in the fourth set was on Medvedev’s serve, which came down at 135mph. Next time, Auger-Aliassime might find a way to put the ball back in court. Better yet, it might be him serving. Either way, he will learn.
“I always believed I could produce what I did tonight,” said the ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime.” I showed it, but definitely it’s the difference between knowing that you have this inside of you, and actually showing up and doing it and being close from winning – one point close.
“It’s good for myself. It’s a world of competition, so at the end of the day I think it’s a good message that I send to my fellow players, the people I’m competing with. I’m ready to test myself with the best, and I have proved it now time after time.”
And so we learned, lest we doubted it, that Auger-Aliassime is surely a grand slam champion in waiting. We also learned that Medvedev, who had only once previously won from sets to love down, has the resilience and desire to get over the line when he is not at the top of his game. Above all, we discovered that, for all the Russian’s apparent insouciance, chinks remain in his mental armour. Over the past 10 days, Medvedev has repeatedly spoken of the confidence he feels following his victory at Flushing Meadows. Yet he conceded after the match that he had “zero confidence after the first two sets”, a reminder of how fragile self-belief can be in a sport played principally between the ears.
“He was playing insane, better than I have ever seen him play, at least against me or in practice,” said Medvedev after his 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5, 6-4 victory. “I cannot watch every match of his, so maybe he did show this level before. Me, I have never seen him play like this. It was unreal. And I didn’t show exactly my best level, I was missing just a little bit too much. So in the third set I had zero confidence in myself and in the outcome of the match. I just tried to fight.”
Medvedev admitted to Jim Courier in his on-court interview that he had asked himself what Djokovic would do in such a situation. The boos that ensued were predictable, but there is something disarming in Medvedev’s readiness to acknowledge his relative standing in the game. He may be the US Open champion and world No 2, but success has not blinded him to the gulf that remains between himself and the big three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. In seeking to emulate their ability to win by dint of sheer willpower and desire, to find a way through with whatever they have on any given day, Medvedev will do himself no harm.
“That played out very well, because I’m still young, and I have to take what I can from the best,” said the 25-year-old.
“I was there between the sets, zero confidence in myself and the outcome of the match, and I was like, ‘What would the best players in the world do?’ Which I’m part of, but still young and still very far [away] in grand slam titles and all like this.
“During the match, as soon as I was down a little bit, I was like, ‘Just be like Novak. Show him that you are better.’”
Medvedev’s next task is to impart a similar message to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who he will meet in Friday’s semi-finals. The Greek fourth seed, who is through to the last four for the third time in four years, enjoyed a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Jannik Sinner, the 11th-seeded Italian.
“It was a great performance from start to finish, with no doubt and a clear game plan,” said Tsitsipas, who will have been grateful to get off court in a shade over two hours following his five-set marathon against Taylor Fritz in the previous round. “It was the most consistent and the best match I’ve had in the tournament.”