Novak Djokovic survives major physical scare as Daniil Medvedev ends season with loss | Tennis | Sport
Medvedev had been hoping to snap his losing streak and end the season on a high after crashing out in his first match at the recent Paris Masters before finding himself eliminated from the group stage at the ATP Finals when he lost his first two matches to Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. But instead he ends 2022 on a four-match losing streak as Djokovic widened the gap in their head-to-head, now sitting on eight wins to four losses.
The 26-year-old enjoyed mixed results this season, starting the year by making the Australian Open final before he reached the world No 1 ranking in February, becoming the first non-Big Four player to sit atop the rankings in 18 years. But he suffered disappointing losses at the French Open and US Open as he failed to get past the fourth round, and ended the year with two titles from Los Cabos and Vienna.
Meanwhile, Djokovic will now be focused on recovering in time for tomorrow’s semi-final as he plays the first of the two matches during tomorrow’s day session against Fritz, who played his final group match on Thursday night and has an extra day to recover compared to the Serb. As well as struggling with fatigue, the world No 8 played his longest-ever match at the ATP Finals and has less than 24 hours before his semi-final.
