John McEnroe explains what will be the difference between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev has been described as “a human backboard” and “a chess master” by John McEnroe yet the tennis great doesn’t believe he will win the 2024 Australian Open final.

World No 3 Medvedev reached his sixth hard-court Grand Slam final with a brilliant come-from-behind victory over Alexander Zverev in the semi-final as he won in five sets despite staring down the barrel after losing the opening two sets.

Friday’s match against Zverev took more than four hours to complete as they finished late in the evening with the third seed’s overall time spent on court increasing to 20 hours and 33 minutes.

By contrast his opponent in Sunday’s final, Jannik Sinner, has clocked 14 hours and 44 during his six matches so far at the tournament. Sinner, who will play in his maiden Grand Slam final has also dropped only one set en route to the final while Medvedev has played three five-setters.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe is a big fan of “brilliant strategist” Medvedev, but he feels the extended match times will catch up with him in the final.

“He’s been known as a human backboard, but what he’s done is rather remarkable already,” the American told Eurosport.

“I already thought of Daniil Medvedev as a chess master, a brilliant strategist, he did it once again [in the semi-final] – he shifted gears, changed his return position, started attacking more, serving bigger.

“He did everything to get back into the match. But he’s played three five setters – Sinner has lost one set. So this would be truly remarkable if Medvedev can rise to the occasion once more, he’s got to be hurting physically.

“But I sort of thought that against Zverev, that the difference was that Zverev was hurting and it caught up to him as the match wore on. But Sinner will be fresh and that is the difference to me.”

READ MORE: Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final – all you need to know

Sinner spent just three hours on court during his semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic with the match taking place earlier in the day.

For McEnroe there is a clear favourite for Sunday’s showpiece match on Rod Laver Arena.

The former world No 1 added: “I think Sinner is the favourite, especially if you look at Medvedev’s playing time so far. He’s played over 20 hours of tennis so far. Sinner has always come through in three sets until the semi-finals.”

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