Final preview: McEnroe praises ‘human backboard’ Medvedev but says Sinner 'fresh'

Daniil Medvedev produced a stunning, against the odds comeback victory in his semi-final against Alexander Zverev to reach his third Australian Open final. The former US Open winner has far more experience than his opponent in the final, Jannik Sinner – but that might not count for much, according to Eurosport’s John McEnroe.

McEnroe knows how to win a Grand Slam or two – winding up with seven at the end of an illustrious career, and was impressed by Medvedev’s resolve and fight as the world No. 3 came back from two-sets down against Zverev to win in five.

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

Medvedev’s route to the final has been anything but straightforward. He dropped the opening set against Terence Atmane in the opening round, but was fortunate that his opponent retired in the fourth set.

Emil Ruusuvuori took Medvedev to five sets in the second round, and he also dropped a set against Nuno Borges in the fourth round. Add in a five-set marathon against Hubert Hurkacz, plus the recovery against Zverev, and it is easy to see why so many are questioning Medvedev’s physical state.

And that’s before considering some of the late nights he has had, with a 3.40am finish to his second-round match, while his semi-final finished at gone midnight local time.

“If he pulls this off, I’ll have way more respect,” said McEnroe about a player that the American admitted he already had plenty of time for.

But with Sinner so much fresher, having dropped just the one set all tournament to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, and at the advantage of having played first and thus having had more rest before the final, the task ahead of Medvedev is certainly a huge one if he wants to add to his Grand Slam tally.

Boris Becker has also spoken to Eurosport, with the German legend saying:

“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.”

And Tim Henman also weighed in, admitting that “the physicality is a big contrast and Sinner has a big advantage”.

Medvedev leads the duo’s head-to-head by six matches to three, but crucially, the two have never met in a best-of-five Grand Slam match. And perhaps even more importantly, Sinner has won the last three encounters against Medvedev, all on hard courts.

But can the Italian outlast the human ‘backboard’, and find a way to grind down his opponent’s unorthodox style of tennis?

Djokovic managed to do so when he faced the world No. 3 in New York last year, winning through in straight sets. And with so many miles in Medvedev’s legs, the advantage must be with the fresher Sinner.

As Medvedev himself joked, “I wonder what the record is [for time spent on court]. Is there anyone that made the final with more?”