This was the perfect tactic that Medvedev was applying to Sinner in Rome

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Today we are going to sleep with the outcome of Jannik Sinner - Daniil Medvedev still up in the air, although the Italian has a strong grip on the match, leading with a break at 4-2 in the third set. Beyond the result, what happened in the second set reveals how to play against the Italian to make it difficult for him. Let's uncover what the Russian is doing to make the world number 1 suffer so much.

Medvedev was overwhelmed in the first set, and another player might have thrown in the towel and raised the white flag. Not him. Daniil knew that as the night fell, his chances could rise. And they did. The Russian started to implement a perfect tactic to trouble Sinner.

Medvedev's Tactic: The Dimitrov Tactic

What he did was very similar to what the Bulgarian applied that night at Wimbledon, before getting injured, when he had Jannik under control. It involved a series of actions to completely force Sinner out of his comfort zone. We can summarize them in three phases.

Phase 1: Be more offensive than him

Medvedev needed to attack more than Jannik because if the Italian can dominate the center of the court and dictate the point, he's lethal. Therefore, despite it being harder to do on clay, Daniil stepped up and began to attack more, ending the set with a 24% attacking rate compared to Sinner's 23%.

By attacking, we don't just mean hitting a deep, powerful shot to the line, which he did, but ensuring that every aspect of a point was decided by Daniil and his racquet. This included Medvedev elongating points with shots from corner to corner, drawing Sinner to the net, preventing him from gaining strength from the baseline. The Russian started to dominate with drop shots until his physical condition began to deteriorate.

The image of the world number 1 seeking air during one of the breaks, completely exhausted physically, was widely discussed. This was solely due to Medvedev's perfect tactic, targeting Sinner's weakest points. Sometimes, the Italian managed to return the drop shot and win the point, but Medvedev aimed to weaken him for subsequent points, gradually breaking him down physically.

Phase 2: Pushing Him Back from the Baseline

The second phase involved pushing Jannik back from the baseline. If Medvedev used a drop shot to pull him away from the baseline during a point, he positioned himself more than 6 meters behind the baseline during returns, hitting shots with high arc and weight in the center-front area of the court, forcing Jannik to move back to avoid hitting at head height.

This way, Daniil had Jannik exactly where he wanted him, able to dictate the flow of the point, either by shifting him laterally, tiring him out and moving him from side to side on the court, or finishing him off with another drop shot.

Phase 3: Making the Match Physical

If Sinner ends up losing tomorrow, it will be because his body can't take it anymore. He's been playing at an incredible pace for over two months, and his body is starting to feel the strain. This is normal given the circumstances. Hence, Daniil wanted to drag the match into the physical battle where he usually excels.

One thing you can be sure of is that Medvedev will push his opponents to their limits if they want to defeat him. That's where he excels. Sinner experienced this in the second set.

The challenge for Daniil is that these three phases demand pinpoint accuracy and unwavering physical strength. This is why in the third set, during a poor service game, he lost his serve, falling behind on the scoreboard.

On Saturday, in the continuation, applying this against a rested Jannik with a break advantage will be very tough. Nonetheless, Medvedev can proudly say that he made it extremely challenging for Sinner in these past months.

Photo source: Tennis Insights, by Tennis Viz.
 

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Así fue la táctica perfecta que Medvedev le estaba aplicando a Sinner en Roma