The US Open final had the right to be considered historic for many reasons. Daniil Medvedev could have won his first major in his career and rightfully took a place in the elite of world tennis. While Novak Djokovic had a different motivation. The Serb has long proven himself to be one of the greatest exponents of the sport, and his triumph at the US Open allowed him to be considered the number one of all time. In this case, he not only repeated the achievement of Rod Laver in 1969 and collected the calendar Grand Slam, but also bypassed in the number of trophies his main competitors - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Perhaps it was the status and stardom in many ways that allowed the first racket of the world to be considered the favorite of the meeting. But in addition to these factors, the experience of playing in decisive matches also spoke for him. If Novak had the upper hand in 20 of his 30 finals, Daniel lost both. Moreover, he lost the first in New York - in 2019 he could not cope with Nadal - and in the second he could not oppose anything to Djokovic in Australia. And then it was the problems with psychology that interfered in many respects. The Russian trite could not cope with emotions and fell down, eventually losing all three sets.

He approached this final as a much more mature athlete. And if everything was in good order with the game characteristics for a long time, then in terms of psychology, we managed to noticeably add. If earlier Medvedev had regular breakdowns during meetings, then at the US Open there were a minimum number of such episodes. In many ways, it was this that helped him in one breath to go all the way to the decisive meeting of the competition, losing only one set - in the quarterfinal confrontation with Botik van de Sandshulp. And many attributed this to the influence on him of the psychologist Francisca Dose, who personally watched him play in New York. They have been cooperating for several years, but the fruits of her work are especially evident right now.

As for Novak, his morale was far from perfect. In 2021, the Serb could set not only the greatest achievement in his career, but in the history of tennis in general. By mid-July, he already had victories at the TBSH in Australia, France and the UK, and for the complete collection there was only a triumph in the United States. But with every step towards the decisive tournament, Djokovic became more and more difficult both physically and mentally. The first alarm bell was his defeat by Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the Olympics, which deprived him of hopes of winning the Golden Slam (four majors and gold of the Games). And in the course of the US Open, the fears were only confirmed.

The US Open can hardly be called Djokovic's favorite major anyway.

It was here that he most often lost in the finals (five times), and the percentage of victories (86.2%) was one of the worst.

He performed less successfully only on the clay Roland Garros (84.4%), which may well be due to the uncomfortable surface.

And his path to the final in 2021 turned out to be extremely difficult at all.

In total, he spent 17 hours 26 minutes on the court (5 hours 35 minutes more than Medvedev) and lost a total of six sets.

At the same time, starting from the third round, he invariably gave the first batch, which could indicate excitement.

Whatever one may say, there was a lot at stake.

This trend continued in the final. The only difference was that Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini took what was bad, converting Djokovic's mistakes into glasses. Medvedev, on the other hand, literally knocked the ground out from under his feet at the first racket of the world with his ideal game. The Russian was great in long rallies, which left the Serb no choice but to constantly advance to the net. But if in the first batch it still brought success to the Serb, and the efficiency from such actions was 89%, then in the subsequent ones it fell to about 60%.

Otherwise, Novak was very bad. He clearly felt ill at ease, and the phenomenal accuracy and stability of the enemy did not give him to recover. This is what allowed Daniil to take the game outright at the reception, and later almost got the lead with a score of 3: 0. On his own, he was almost flawless. Evidence of this is eight aces with only one double in the first set and 100% of points won when hitting the first ball (15/15). It was almost impossible to impose a fight on such a Medvedev, especially if you yourself work at medium speed.

At the beginning of the second set, Djokovic perked up a bit, which is confirmed by five break points earned. At the same time, the point is rather that Medvedev himself has loosened his grip. The number of unforced errors doubled (14 - 7), but the ingenious blows still continued to take place. And sometimes luck was on his side. In the fourth game, Daniel could well be in the role of catch-up - with the score "less" he was forced to serve with the second ball and did it not in the most successful way, but at that moment music suddenly started playing at the Arthur Ash stadium. The judge demanded to re-conduct the rally, which benefited the Russian. He took three points in a row and restored parity, and subsequently gave the demoralized Serb at the reception.

That was the end of the struggle in the second game.

The Russian took his serve to zero and took the lead 4: 2, and subsequently gave the Serb only two points at the reception in total.

And at this moment, Djokovic's position could not be regarded as anything other than critical.

At least for the reason that he had previously won the TBS final only once, losing in sets with a score of 0: 2.

Three months ago, he broke the resistance of Stefanos Tsitsipas at Roland Garros.

It seemed that before the start of the third game, Djokovic would definitely resort to some tricks.

For example, he will take a long toilet break in the manner of that Tsitsipas or call a doctor.

Taking into account the problems with his shoulder during the Olympics, this would be quite justified.

However, the proud Serb did not try to break the rhythm of Medvedev by signing his own sentence.

The first four games of the third set were left for Daniel, and Novak seemed really lost. Constant breakdowns and hits in the net alternated with adventurous and unprepared exits to the net, for which he was constantly punished. But this was not the only reason for Djokovic's failures. The main thing was that throughout the meeting, Medvedev demonstrated perhaps the best tennis in his life and was not going to stop.

Only local fans could slow it down a bit. It is difficult to say whether they felt hatred specifically for Medvedev, whether they supported Djokovic, or simply wanted the final not to be short-lived, but it was they who helped the Serb play the first matchball. The whistle in the arena was so deafening that the Russian could not serve for more than 20 seconds. And when he finally got the opportunity to do it, he wavered. Two double mistakes in a row and one unforced after - and Novak made the first break.

The next two games, the audience continued to support Djokovic with all their might, often overstepping all the boundaries of what was permitted, but the second time, Medvedev could not be broken. On the final serve of the opponent, Novak came out with tears in his eyes and could hardly pull himself together. Daniel was unstoppable. On the third try, he realized matchball and won the first Grand Slam tournament of his career. Before him, only two domestic tennis players managed to do this - Evgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.

Throughout the match, Medvedev only occasionally allowed himself to raise his clenched fist, but during the awards ceremony he finally relaxed. The Russian apologized to the Serb who continued to cry for not allowing him to repeat Laver's achievement and collect the calendar Grand Slam, and also admitted that he was obliged to win. According to him, he did not have time to give his wife a gift for the third wedding anniversary, so he wanted to present her with the main trophy of the US Open.