USA Today via Reuters
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; (L-R) Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Daniil Medvedev of Russia celebrate with the finalist and championship trophies, respectively, after their match in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; (L-R) Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Daniil Medvedev of Russia celebrate with the finalist and championship trophies, respectively, after their match in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
Russian tennis powerhouse Daniil Medvedev has been in the form of his life in recent weeks. The 25-year-old player managed to do the unthinkable, stopping Novak Djokovic from winning his 21st Grand Slam title. In doing so, he became the proud winner of the US Open, his first major success.
Interestingly, according to a study by Jeu, Set et Maths, a Twitter account revealing tennis statistics, Daniil Medvedev would be the World No. 1 player had there not been any changes in the points system.
Post pandemic, points from the previous editions of events that could not be played in the previous year because of the crisis have been frozen and the ranking of tennis players has also been blocked to protect them when they could not travel because of restrictions or injuries.
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via Reuters
Tennis – Australian Open – Men’s Singles Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic shakes hands with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev after their final match REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
Daniil Medvedev does not benefit from new rules
Had the usual system and procedure been followed, then Novak Djokovic would have been on 8860 points instead of the 12133 points he currently holds. On the other hand, Medvedev would be on 9015 points instead of 10780 points. In that case, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal would be outside the Top 10 rankings.
Reflecting on Daniil and Novak, they began the season, competing against each other at the Australian Open. They faced each other in the final and it was the Serbian machine who won that duel in straight sets. In doing so, Djokovic won his 9th Australian Open title.
USA Today via Reuters
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Novak Djokovic of Serbia (L) congratulates Daniil Medvedev of Russia (R) after their match in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
After that, they faced each other during the final Grand Slam event of the season at the US Open 2021. To everyone’s surprise, the Russian star won the match in straight sets.
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He did something that no player could do this season; beat the World No. 1 Serbian ace in a Grand Slam this season. We expect many more contests between these two players and we look forward to the 2022 season.
Watch this story: Top Seeds Naomi Osaka, John Isner, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Others Who Faced Huge Upsets at US Open
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