The mens singles finals of the US Open 2023 lasted 3 hours and 17 minutes and was nothing short of a slugfest. Novak Djokovic had a simple strategy for the match. Put one more ball back in play! And preferably to the Medvedev Backhand!
Interestingly, throughout the match, both players played more of Backhands than Forehands. 53% of all Medvedev groundstrokes were Backhands and a whopping 60% for Djokovic!
The average rally length for the match was a staggering 6.48 shots, which, for those who are new to Tennis Analytics, is notably higher than the typical benchmark for men’s tennis.
The first point of the match itself was a 19 shot rally! Following is how the story of the match unfolded.
Set 1:
Both players started out slow on the serve with Djokovic struggling to find his First Serve. His First Serve Percentage through the first set was 52%.
Sealing the first service game with an Ace, Djokovic broke the Medvedev serve at love straight after, with the help of a Double Fault and a couple of Errors.
The third game was where Djokovic tried the Serve & Volley for the first time. This was the tactic that he successfully employed multiple times later in the match! The first Serve & Volley at 0-15 was unsuccessful. But the one at 0-30 was perfect.
The set was puctuated with multiple long rallies. The average rally length behind Djokovic’s first serves was 7.87 shots and a whopping 11.93 shots behind second serves!
Djokovic was serving sharp by keeping the pattern mixed in the Deuce Court. He was serving accurately to the Medvedev Forehand in the Ad Court perhaps to exploit the wide return position. When Medvedev got the return back in play, he would be positioned in the centre of the court which would lead to elongated rallies.
Novak Djokovic First Serves
Novak Djokovic Second Serves
Medvedev saved two set points at 2:5 and Djokovic eventually served the Set out at 5:3.
Set 2:
Djokovic was putting intense pressure on the Medvedev serve right from the first game of the second set. With 3 deuces, Medvedev held the long and important service game.
On the other hand, Djokovic was holding Serve with ease and the first three of his Service Games were holds at love.
As the match was drawing out, Djokovic steadily increased his presence at the net to shorten the points.
| Set | Net Appearances (Djokovic) |
|---|---|
| Set 1 | 10% |
| Set 2 | 23% |
| Set 3 | 30% |
A significant number of Net Appearances were Serve & Volleys, especially at the end of the second set.
Djokovic Serve & Volleyed 11 times in the Second Set since he found it to be a very effective strategy against the deep Medvedev return position.
This deep return position that had helped Medvedev against Alcaraz proved to be the achilles heel against the world number 2.
The 8th game of the second set was an opportunity for Medvedev to get his foot through the door. Djokovic was physically exhausted after a long point at 40-30. Following this, Medvedev completely missed a sitting Forehand Return which would’ve given him a chance to break against an exhausted Djokovic.
Djokovic double faulted the following point at Ad-In bringing the game back to Deuce.
At 5:6 Djokovic was serving to stay in the match and was looking significantly tired. Double faulting twice, at 30-15 and 40-30, Djokovic fended off Medvedev with multiple Serve & Volleys, especially an important one when he was down a Set Point at Ad-Out.
The set ended in a Tiebreaker with both players going toe-to-toe. The fate was sealed in Djokovic’s favour at 5:6 with a Backhand Error from Medvedev.
Set 3:
The second set seemed to take much of an emotional toll on Medvedev. Losing the set from being up a set point and then eventually being two sets to love down, it is incredibly difficult to find and keep up the intensity needed to take Novak Djokovic to 5 sets.
The first point of the Set was a display of what was to come: an incessant string of Serve & Volleys specifically in the Deuce Court. Medvedev found no answer to it throughout the match. Djokovic’s accurate slice serve out wide in the Deuce Court was taking advantage of the deep return position to finish off the volley in the open court as seen below.
A montage of the Djokovic Serve & Volley in the Deuce Court.
Heatmap of serves Djokovic used to execute the Serve & Volley.
Djokovic won 13/14 in the Deuce Court.
After trading breaks in the fourth and fifth games, Djokovic delivered the final blow in the sixth game to get the decisive break for the Set and served out the match at 5:3.
Conclusion:
By executing a perfect game plan coupled with incredible consistency, Djokovic achieved his 24th Grand Slam title. Medvedev had previously denied Novak a calendar slam in 2021 but this year the Russian could not keep up to the Serb’s consistency and also faltered in converting a few important opportunities.
Djokovic will take his perfect form into the year end championships and hope to close the year at number 1 where we might witness a Djokovic vs Medvedev rematch!