Daniil Medvedev gives Novak Djokovic first loss of 2023

CALVIA, SPAIN - JUNE 24: Daniil Medvedev of Russia ATP Mallorca Championships 2021 at Country Club de Santa Ponça on June 24, 2021 in Calvia, Spain. (Photo by Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images)

To begin the 2023 tennis season, Novak Djokovic of Belgrade, Serbia has been spectacular. In January, he continued his remarkable excellence in the country of Australia. Djokovic won 12 consecutive matches there as he won five matches to win his first Adelaide International and then seven matches to win his 10th Australian Open. In the final, Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.

This past week Djokovic competed in his third tennis tournament of the year. He reached the semifinals in Dubai before losing to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev has been simply spectacular over the last month. He beat Jannik Sinner of Italy in the final of Rotterdam 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and then beat Andy Murray in the final of Qatar, 6-4, 6-4.

In the Dubai final, Medvedev will face Andrey Rublev in an all-Russian final. Medvedev is the player with more grand slam success as he has won the 2021 United States Open, reached the final of the 2019 United States Open (lost to Rafael Nadal of Spain), the final of the 2021 Australian Open (lost to Djokovic), the final of the 2022 Australian Open (lost to Nadal), and the semifinal of the 2020 United States Open (lost to Dominic Thiem of Austria). Rublev meanwhile has not reached a grand slam semi-final in his career yet.

All-time, Medvedev is 4-2 all-time against Rublev. This will be their first ATP final head-to-head.

In the Dubai semifinal, Medvedev had eight aces compared to five for Djokovic. Medvedev also broke Djokovic thrice. The last time Djokovic suffered a loss was on November 6, when he was beaten by Denmark’s Holger Rune in the Paris Masters final, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

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