WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Daniil Medvedev had to skip the Wimbledon tournament last year, and not because he wanted to.
The 2021 U.S. Open champion was banned from the All England Club, just like every other Russian and Belarusian tennis player, because of the war in Ukraine.
“It was amazing to be back at Wimbledon,” said the 27-year-old Russian, who achieved his best result at the grass-court Grand Slam this week by reaching the semifinals. “I’m going to try even harder next few years.”
When Medvedev won the U.S. Open two years ago, he stopped Novak Djokovic from completing the first calendar-year Grand Slam on the men's tour since 1969. With a win on Friday, he would have faced Djokovic in a third Grand Slam final.
That win never came — Medvedev lost to Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.
The top-ranked Alcaraz replaced Medvedev as U.S. Open champion by winning the tournament in New York in 2022. And it'll be Alcaraz that gets to face Djokovic on Sunday in the Wimbledon final after playing what he called “one of my best matches.”
“Not only on grass, but on the tour,” Alcaraz said, summing up the match played under the roof on Centre Court because of persistent rain in the London area.
The score definitely wasn't on Medvedev's side, but the fans sure were — especially when he earned his only two breaks of serve against Alcaraz in the third set.
“Amazing. Amazing,” Medvedev said of the crowd support. “Even today, as I said throughout the two weeks, they were going for the underdog. I was losing in the match, so they were supporting me, supporting me like crazy. I felt like they wanted the match to prolong.”
That encouragement he felt over the last 12 or so days wasn't confined to the grass courts of the All England Club, apparently.
“Generally, if I saw anyone in the city, if anyone saw me in the city, or in the cafes or stuff like this, it was a great, great atmosphere,” Medvedev said. “Really grateful. Will be happy to come back to England many more times.”
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