On Friday night, Daniil Medvedev launched a Herculean comeback from two sets down in his semifinal against Alexander Zverev to book his place in the AO final for a third time.
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For Medvedev’s coach Gilles Cervara, it was perhaps not as uncomfortable as for other Medvedev fans. After all, he’s seen it before; Medvedev’s AO 2022 encounter against Felix Auger-Aliassime had a similar feel.
“I have the memory of the quarterfinal against Felix here,” Cervara told reporters. “That was a bit the same scenario with two sets to love, and it's tough to see a solution, to imagine how he can find a solution.”
But find one he did, winning in five against the Canadian, just as he did against Zverev on Friday.
Recalling Medvedev’s comments following his five-hour battle with Hubert Hurkacz in this year’s quarterfinal, Cervara knows his charge has a certain attitude to being on the back foot.
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“[He thinks] Okay, he's gonna be in the plane next day,” Cervara said. “I feel that helps him to relax, and he find a better rhythm on the serve and his serve is getting much better.
“Of course, the game [against Zverev] is different. His return from close and from baseline is more offensive, more aggressive. Then he found his own solution. Then you see the result.”
Given the often rapidly-revolving doors of pro tennis coaching, Cervara and Medvedev have been together for good while, having paired up in the summer of 2017.
Since then, Medvedev has won 20 senior titles including the US Open in 2021 – his sole major crown – and risen from hovering around the top 50 to a career-high world No.1. The partnership also earned Cervara Coach of the Year at the 2019 ATP Awards.
As is so often the case, those the closest often bear the brunt of anger and frustration. Medvedev, now 27, has long had a reputation for being a bit prickly on court, with fans, officials and towards his own players’ box.
But Cervara isn’t fazed, and even sees these interactions as a positive. After all, if Medvedev is getting upset with his box it means he’s looking for a change. And, as he points out, Medvedev is usually that far away from him on court that Cervara can’t actually hear what he’s saying anyway. But the sentiment is there.
“I know when he get upset like this, I mean, it's not against me, and I know it, so I know that he's in trouble, he has no solution, that's why he react like this.
“I know he doesn't expect something special [from me], but I try to give him a reaction, to make him think or to make him have a new idea or to have another feeling, something like I can give him.
“I was almost happy that he get upset at this moment [during the Zverev match], because he needed a reaction. Not being just calm, waiting for something. It was more like, okay, find a reaction and a solution.”
At Australian Open 2022, Cervara had to watch his charge go through one of the most difficult defeats of his career.
At two sets up in the final against a 35-year-old Rafael Nadal, Cervara had to look on as the Spaniard switched gears and Medvedev’s lead was first diminished and then eclipsed over a period of nearly five and a half hours.
“It's the toughest one because it's in Grand Slam and he leads two sets to love and break point in the third set,” Cervara recalled. “But when you look at the match and when you know tennis, you know that, okay, you're close but you're so far, in fact.”
And Medvedev was magnanimous in defeat that evening, acknowledging the superiority of Nadal’s performance, even turning it into his own learning experience.
"Next time I'm probably going to say when two sets to love down, 'Just do it like Rafa did against you'," he told reporters at the time.
And he might just need his own advice. Two years on, Cervara will once again be watching at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday as Medvedev makes a third bid for a first AO title, this time against 22-year-old Jannik Sinner.
“It will be a very tough match,” Cervara predicts, knowing that although this time it’s Medvedev with all the experience, and he’s not up against a multi major-winning giant of the game, there are no certainties at this level.
“[It’s an] opportunity to use this chance to not play Novak or Nadal. But at the same time, it's an amazing player in front of him, so it's also a very, very big change.”