Medvedev did lose – for the first time in 20 matches. Alcaraz defeated him and became number 1 in the world

End of series.

In 2006, singer Nelly Furtado released a platinum single in which she asked the question: “Why does all good things come to an end?”

Now fans of Daniil Medvedev are asking the same question , because his phenomenal unbeaten streak of 19 matches has ended. In the final of the Masters in Indian Wells, the Russian was severely stopped by 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz – 6:3, 6:2.

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During the tournament, Daniil complained a lot about the speed of the surface, and at the beginning of the week he said that only maybe 10 players are able to show their best tennis on it. Alcaraz is definitely one of them.

On the one hand, the Spaniard is so powerful that he has enough strength to punch through a slow court and hammer right through. And as soon as Medvedev was a little short in the final or softened a little, Carlos pounced on the ball and drove it in at a speed of 160 km / h. Very much.

On the other hand, the speed of coverage allows Alcaraz to dominate through movement and the ability to play awkwardly from defensive positions.

Therefore, Medvedev scored the first winners only in the sixth game. And for the match he had only five of them.

In addition, the Spaniard dominated the long plays – again, due to a combination of impenetrability and the ability to sharply increase the pace, add speed to the ball and seize the positional advantage.

It didn’t help Daniel that he made a lot of mistakes. For example, he started the second set by giving a break, constipating a couple of blows from the back, one near the net and giving a double. In total, the Russian has 21 unforced ones – more than the Spaniard (19). In the last game of the match, he even began to throw the racket into the court after them.

It was surprising how few problems Medvedev created from the reception. He did not have a single break point, and he never even led 30:15 on the Spaniard’s serve.

It was frustrating that Daniil did not experiment with the technique at all, did not try to cut corners, stand closer to the back line. As a result, Alcaraz brilliantly exploited his position. The chic episodes of serv-and-volley helped.