Three things to watch for in the US Open final between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev

Second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia will face third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the US Open final in New York on Sunday, September 10. Djokovic will be eyeing a record-extending 24th Grand Slam title, while Medvedev will be playing for his second.

Djokovic beat Ben Shelton in the semi-final, while Medvedev got the better of World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic will be the favourite to win the title on Sunday, but Medvedev will take heart from the fact that he beat the Serb in the US Open final in 2021 for his only Grand Slam title so far.

On that note, let us take a look at three things to watch for in the match:

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#1. A battle between two powerful backhands

It can be said without much doubt that the final between those two players will see a lot of crosscourt backhand exchanges. Both these players have superb backhands and both will want to go down-the-line after pushing his opponent to the backhand corner.

While Djokovic’s ability to defend through his left hand side is unparalleled, Medvedev probably plays his down-the-line backhand with a bit more power. Hence, it should be an absorbing battle within the main battle. Moreover, both players defend the width of the baseline really well and therefore, it will not be easy to hit through either of them.

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#2. Medvedev's serve against Djokovic's return:

Medvedev is one of the bigger servers in world tennis at the moment and his serve kept bailing him out repeatedly against Alcaraz. Should he be able to get an early break in any of the sets, Djokovic might find it difficult to break back, given the quality of the 27-year-old Russian's serve.

However, one cannot deny that there hasn't been a player of Djokovic's calibre in recent times, and he has made a career out of handling big serves. If anyone can nullify Medvedev's big serve, it is the 36-year-old Serb.

#3. Djokovic’s unparalleled big-match temperament

Much has been said about Djokovic's winning mentality and iron will already, but one cannot over-emphasize it. The Serb has regularly been disposing of his much younger opponents and Medvedev could very well go on to be another addition to that list.

If the match stretches beyond three hours or four sets, Djokovic, quite surprisingly, will be the favourite to win despite being nine years older than the Russian. Not that Medvedev cannot reverse the tide, but he should find it to be extremely difficult.