Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev | Head 2 Head

General information about players

3	Wins	1
34	Age	24
6’1″ (185 cm)	Height	6’6″ (198 cm)
187 lbs (85 kg)	Weight	182 lbs (83 kg)
Left-Handed	Plays	Right-Handed
Two-Handed	Backhand	Two-Handed
86	Career Titles	9

Description of rivalry

The athletes met for the first time in 2019 in the final of the competition held in Montreal, Canada. Then Rafael Nadal gave only three games to Medvedev and won his third trophy in the season.

A month later they got together again, this time in the final of the U.S. Open Championship. Rafael Nadal quickly won the first two sets and the audience was already preparing to congratulate the Spaniard, but Medvedev showed that he did not accidentally make it to the finals. Daniil won the next two sets and surprised all the spectators. In the decisive set, Daniil lacked strength and luck. Rafa could win his second Grand Slam trophy of the season.

It is not surprising that at the end of 2019, both sportsmen, who played so many times in the final of the competition met at the final tournament in London. Medvedev was no longer able to show the previous game and again lost to Nadal.

The year 2020 was very difficult for all sportsmen. Cancellation of the majority of tournaments, loss of motivation, and game form affected the majority of sportsmen. But nevertheless, Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev got to the final tournament in London for the second year in a row. This time Daniil managed to take revenge for all defeats, he defeated Nadal at the semi-final stage and then won the main trophy of the tournament beating Dominic Thiem in the final.

Head To Head Matches

Year	Event	Round	Surface	Winner	Score
2020	ATP FINALS	SF	Hard	Daniil Medvedev	3-6 7-6 6-3
2019	ATP FINALS	Group	Hard	Rafael Nadal	6-7 6-3 7-6
2019	US OPEN	F	Hard	Rafael Nadal	5-7 3-6 7-5 6-4 4-6
2019	ROGERS CUP	F	Hard	Rafael Nadal	6-3 6-0

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What do athletes say about each other?

Rafael Nadal about his defeat in semifinal in London

“I can’t say that I was just tired by the end of the match. At the beginning of the meeting Medvedev just played better, and it was difficult for me to cope with his serve, but then I added and took a set. In the second game everything went on the same scenario – in the second half I acted better. With the score 5/4 Daniil played perfectly, and I was wrong several times. That’s all. I had chances which I missed. Medvedev, of course, is good – he plays wonderfully. I wish him only good things.

If I had taken that game in the second set, the match would have been won. I don’t think that in the third set there was additional pressure on me because of that. I won a lot enough to not justify myself by the pressure. There were also more difficult situations from which I managed to come out the winner – and even more important matches.

One bad game. Of course, there was pressure – I serve for the match, everyone will worry. It creates tension and leads to mistakes. If the opponent plays perfectly, he will take the game. Then, Medvedev had a powerful tie-break. In the third set I gave the pitch in the game, in which I could easily win. I did not get a slight blow from the flight. Details are very important”

Rafael Nadal

Daniil commented on his first victory at Rafael Nadal

It was a very hard match. I felt very strange on the court. I felt that I have good kicks, but there is no certain connection in the game. It was not possible to play in the decisive moments. But I managed to restructure the tactics and make him uncomfortable. This is a well-deserved victory. We can consider that I had small revenge for the last year.
This is my first victory over Rafael, not everyone can do it. Naturally, this is one of the best victories in my career. I hope that I will have such victories even often,”