US Open Finals: Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev Preview, Odds, H2H, Prediction

Will Novak Djokovic defeat Daniil Medvedev in the US Open finals and write the most exciting story in tennis history? The Serbian player is virtually standing one step away from being the greatest ever player of this sport, despite all the on and off-court obstacles he had throughout his illustrious career. Novak will have the audience, the vast army of Federer’s and Nadal’s fans against him, possibly a line official as well. We all know that he isn’t accepted by the “blue blood” of the tennis community. He will also have ambitious and furious Daniil Medvedev, who wants to win his first Grand Slam trophy. These two guys have had some superb matches in the past, and there isn’t a shred of doubt that this one will be the same.

Preview

Novak Djokovic (-200) has a strange habit of losing the first set here in New York this year. Apart from the opening two matches at Flushing, he lost the opening part of the contest in the remaining four, but despite that ended up on the winning side. After all, this is Novak we’re talking about, arguably the guy with the strongest mentality in tennis ever.

After defeating Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals, he faced another familiar face last night, Alexander Zverev, the guy who crushed his dreams of becoming the Olympic champion a few weeks ago in Tokyo. Novak was better after five sets, being close to perfect with breakpoints, converting six in nine attempts.

What is also important is that he had only 66% of the first serve, and despite that, took down Zverev, who has been playing on the highest possible level in recent times. Also, we need to mention that against Berretttini, Djokovic had a massive challenge for his return, which once again proved to be the best in the world.

Daniil Medvedev (+210) had a much easier path towards the finals, meeting guys like van de Zandschulp and Auger Aliassime in the last two events. With all due respect, they are nowhere near Zverev and Berrettini, but the young Canadian has the potential to catch up with them pretty soon.

The Russian’s serve is working very good, and he often has at least a dozen aces during the match. Apart from that, his win percentage on the first serve is almost always around 75% or 80%, giving him a solid advantage over the opponents.

Against Auger Aliassime, he erased a 2-5 deficit in the second set, but it seems that Medvedev has certain problems during the middle of each match, in the second and third set. In those moments, his intensity of play tends to fall. It is a brief period, as he always comes back, but it is there.

Head to Head Matches

Novak and Medvedev have played eight times so far. Djokovic has five wins, and the Russian three, with the most recent game in Melbourne, early this year, ending in Novak’s favor, 3-0. By the way that was the finals of the Australian Open.

Prediction

This is a match that will for sure see at least four sets. Even though the odds here are not that profitable, -265, in our opinion, there isn’t any notable risk in taking this pick. When talking about the event’s winner, we are backing up Djokovic, who has a unique chance to do something no player has ever done in the Open Era, plus becoming the player with the most Grand Slam titles ever.

Pick: Novak to win -200