WATCH: Daniil Medvedev pulls off rare feat – ‘It kind of pumps you up’

Shahida Jacobs 05 Sep 2023 5:35 AM

Daniil Medvedev returns ball during his tennis match

Daniil Medvedev admits he is “not a huge fan” of tweeners, but he still managed to execute one perfectly during his US Open match against Alex de Minaur and was pretty pleased with himself.

The 2021 Flushing Meadows champion made a sluggish start to his fourth-round clash against De Minaur as he lost the opening set, but he then pulled off a magical tweener early in the second set and that seemed to fire him up.

After winning the second set, Medvedev ran away with the match as he eventually notched up a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

As for his brilliant tweener – a shot between the legs – the third seed had this to say: “It’s very rare that I do a tweener and I land it in. Against [Sebastian] Baez I made one and I almost won the point.

“Many times I also don’t go for the tweener because usually you have the chance to make a lob and get back into the point or something like this. I’m not a huge fan of the tweener, even if in practice I do it a little bit more for fun.

“Here I felt like it was a good opportunity to do it. I was a little bit late and I just went for it. To win it, the crowd cheers you on and the next game I also had an amazing point. It kind of pumps you up. That was great to do it in this tough moment.”

Daniil starts it with a tweener, ends it with a volley! pic.twitter.com/EeGAahYYf5

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 4, 2023

The two-hour and 40-minute clash in “brutal” New York conditions against the 13th-seeded De Minaur certainly took a lot out of Medvedev and he was just happy to get through to the next round where he will face Andrey Rublev.

“Brutal match. Brutal match. Brutal conditions. So tough, so humid today,” he said.

“When I practiced before the match, like usually four hours before the match, straight away I was like, oh, my God, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough for everyone who was there today. Some people bear better with the hit, some people worse. I feel like I’m not the best one in this case. And at the same time, I feel like I fight many times through it quite well.

“I managed to raise my level. It was amazing. So really happy and hope I can play the same way Going forward.”