Daniil Medvedev scripted a stunning season-turnaround and probably the biggest win of his career as he defeated Dominic Thiem 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 after two hours and 43 minutes to win the ATP Finals.
Medvedev, who also beat five-time champion Novak Djokovic and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal earlier in the week, is the first player to sweep the top three players in the ATP Rankings at the season finale.
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The Russian is only the fourth player to accomplish the feat at a single event since the start of the ATP Tour in 1990. Medvedev is the first player from his country to win the year-end championships since Nikolay Davydenko in 2009.
Nothing like a post-match arm workout 💪🏆@DaniilMedwed #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/1TrrR6f7sU
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 22, 2020
“Today was probably the best victory of my life, not in terms even of the title, in terms of the match,” said the 24-year-old after the match.
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“To beat Dominic when he is playing like this, he is really tough. I think he actually likes the way I play, so it was really tough mentally. I’m just the happiest man in the world at this moment.”
Entering the Paris Masters two weeks ago, Medvedev was just 18-10 on the season without a title or a win against Top 10 opponents.
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Since arriving at Paris-Bercy, where he lifted his third ATP Masters 1000 trophy, the 24-year-old has won 10 consecutive matches, including seven against the Top 10.
“It’s just unbelievable, because it’s 10 matches I’ve won in a row and two of the biggest tournaments at the end of the year,” said Medvedev.
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“I remember my first match against [Kevin] Anderson in Paris where he retired at 5/2 in the tie-break. I couldn’t put one return in the court. I was sometimes on the ball, but it was going 10 metres out and in my mind I was like, ‘I’m playing so bad right now. I’m playing so bad.
“Then just by fighting, by keeping in the matches I started to raise my level and just played unbelievable.”
This is the tennis of a champion. 🙌@emirates | #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter pic.twitter.com/nSd5U9uGFW
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 22, 2020
One year ago, Medvedev made a winless debut at this tournament, claiming just one set. Now he is the 2020 champion, earning 1,500 ranking points and a cool bonus of $1,564,000 for remaining undefeated through the week.
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Medvedev is the sixth different champion at the year-end championships in the past six years. London’s O2 bid farewell to the tournament as it has been shifted to Turin from next year.
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