Two bubbles. This is the memory that Daniil Medvedev (28 years old, 5th in the world) left to Alexandre Müller (27 years old, 102nd) during their only meeting, at the Saint-Rémy Challenger won by the Russian in 2016. Eight years later, the reunion was nothing like it. Neither the place (the Centre Court of Wimbledon, the most beautiful tennis venue in the world), nor the score since Gilles Cervara’s protégé won 6-7 [3]7-6 [4]6-4, 7-5 in 3h28, in a fight that looked like anything but a Provençal walk in the park.
The fault of a Muller as enterprising and comfortable on the London grass as in Rome where he had qualified before eliminating Arthur Fils and Andrey Rublev on the road to his round of 16 (beaten by Nicolas Jarry). Without complex, not at all intimidated by the prestige of the place, the Frenchman played his luck boldly to snatch the first set after having won the last five points in a row, in a tie-break where Medvedev showed all his anger towards his clan (where Gilles Simon had taken his place) who showed him the way to the net, to the point of going to sit down at 6 points to 3 for his opponent thinking the set was over.
In the process, the Parisian from Poissy pulled away 3-0 in the second set but the Russian got his game back on track to get back into the game, taking advantage of a few poor tactical choices from his opponent and a clear drop in intensity. However, the two men produced some hard-hitting and spectacular tennis under the eyes of the English golfer Justin Rose, Olympic champion in 2016 and invited to the royal box the day after qualifying for the British Open. Inevitably, given their serenity on serve, the second tie-break turned to Medvedev’s advantage, who had put up the barbed wire in defense.
Müller finished the match strapped
There was no question of Müller giving up just yet. Despite losing his opening serve in the third, and after being down 4-1, then 4-2 with a 5-2 lead, he held on courageously to equalise. But the intensity displayed by the world number 5 got the better of him at the end of the set. After 2 hours and 41 minutes of play, he had his back to the wall, with a painful left thigh that required a strapping break before the start of the fourth set.
This was summed up in a baseline dialogue, interspersed with clear breaks at the net. In this game, Medvedev’s experience made the difference. After having squandered a break point, synonymous with match point, at 4-3 on Müller’s serve, the Russian made his opponent bend in the diagonal of the backhands before a shot at the end of the race offered him two match points, real ones this time, at 6-5, 15-40. Müller erased the first, but a sad double fault, his third of the match, put an end to his hopes of seeing the third round.
2024-07-03 16:22:01
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