Step back: Medvedev lost to Tim in the US Open semifinals

Daniil Medvedev was unable to repeat his last year's result at the US Open.

The Russian tennis player lost in the semifinals to the third racket of the world to Dominik Tim from Austria in three sets, while having all the chances, if not to win, then at least to impose a more stubborn struggle on an opponent.

It was Medvedev who was the favorite of the match, despite the fact that in their personal confrontation Tim was leading with a score of 2: 1.

During the entire tournament, the Russian not only did not lose a single set, but also gave only three games on his serve out of 68. At the same time, it should be noted that the third seeded number had almost no really strong competitors - except for compatriot Andrei Rublev, all previous rivals were noticeably lower class.

The semi-final between Medvedev and Tim began almost immediately with a whole drama.

At the break point of the Austrian in the sixth game, the Russian served the ball, which hit the touchline in length.

However, the rally continued, and Tim hit the ball into the court.

Medvedev, on the other hand, stopped his flight by hitting the net in order to demand a challenge and submit a second time.

However, the umpire Damien Dumousois, who served last year's match between Medvedev and Feliciano Lopez, in which the Russian had a conflict with the audience, did not allow this.

The tennis player had to ask for a replay immediately after the strike, which was in question, and Medvedev was credited with a lost game on his serve.

The Russian began to express dissatisfaction with the decision made and even moved to someone else's half of the court to show the mark from the ball.

In response, the judge only made a verbal warning, which made the athlete even more angry - he issued an angry tirade in which he called Dumusois “not very smart” and sarcastically apologized for going out of the net.

Despite the fact that even Tim was not against the challenge, the score in the match remained the same, and the Austrian took the lead with a break.

This turn of events greatly influenced the psychological state of the Russian tennis player.

He lost the next eight points out of nine and gave the first set.

In the second game, Medvedev was able to pull himself together and immediately lead with a break.

His serve improved markedly, and the number of accurate shots on the first try reached 90%.

So the Russian came to the filing for the set, but it was at this moment that he had a failure, which brought Tim the first break point.

The Austrian quickly realized it and kept the serve in the next game with a fight, having played five break points now from Medvedev's side.

The fate of the game was decided in a tie-break, and the Russian was the first to get close to the setball, but did not realize his chance.

Tim, on the other hand, took advantage of an opponent's too light blow in the 15th rally and brought the matter to the end.

Even an ankle injury, due to which he briefly summoned a doctor to the court, did not prevent the Austrian from taking a 2-0 lead in sets.

Medvedev has never in his career emerged victorious from such a situation.

Moreover, he never even won the fifth set at the Grand Slam tournaments, which was a prerequisite to stay in the US Open tournament bracket.

Nevertheless, he continued to fight and played the third game almost the same as the second.

The Russian again took an early lead with a break, held the required score for a long time and applied for a set.

Alas, but the result in the end turned out to be exactly the same as an hour earlier.

Tim, at the right moment, made a reverse break, playing the set point, and imposed a second tie-break on Medvedev.

The Russian immediately began to make mistakes, thanks to which the Austrian took the lead with a score of 5: 1.

Although Medvedev managed to get close to his opponent, he did not play one of the two match points.

“Disappointed.

As many as two breaks in sets.

I give credit to Dominic Tim's game.

Thank you US Open for the past three weeks.

See you next year.

Hopefully there will be a roaring crowd around that loves me.

I'll be back, ”the Russian commented on his defeat on Twitter.

Tim became the first Austrian to make it to the US Open final, and will try to take the Grand Slam title for the fourth time in his career.

His rival will be Alexander Zverev, who won back from the score 0: 2 in a five-set duel with Pablo Carreño-Busta.

For the fifth racket of the world from Germany, this will be the first fight for the trophy at the Majors.