A martyrdom named Medvedev

There are two legs and two arms, but it seems that it has a thousand.

There is no place that Daniil Medvedev does not reach, an ordeal that volatilized this dream called Masters this Saturday and that, for one reason or another, this year too, Rafael Nadal is denied.

The number two ended up bowing (3-6, 7-6 (4) and 6-3 in 2h 35m) against an exasperating rival who presented him with an extreme duel physically and emotionally.

The Spanish could not with him, four victories on the track towards the final and that this Sunday (19.00, #Vamos) points to the plenary session against Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic's executioner.

The tournament, therefore, will register a new champion for the fifth consecutive year.

• Thiem, fair and superb finalist

• Medvedev, a laboratory 'shaolin'

Against Medvedev there is no room for speculation, because the Russian is an illusionist capable of distorting reality.

With him, everything seems to happen in slow motion, but actually it goes very fast.

Pick and shovel all the time.

Everything is a lie, everything is true.

There is no better imposter on the circuit.

It has a thousand and one solutions, and the same slows down and imposes a tiring rhythm that overflows with impossible accelerations.

By the time the rival wants to realize it has already fallen into the trap, so Nadal came out with the intention of avoiding entanglements, brave but with moderation.

Against Medvedev, the opposite is foolhardy.

The same gives the Russian a marathon than the game by slapping, three or four strokes.

From all angles it is intimidating.

It destabilizes and forces abrupt gear changes, accelerations that end up dismantling anyone's pattern.

This Saturday, for example, he tried to denature Nadal's game by subtracting him from infinity, as he did in the duel four days ago against Djokovic;

almost five meters behind the line in the first, practically three in the second.

He drew a chasm and for a long time that strange visual sensation of emptiness, accentuated by the dimensions of the O2 track, expansive to the point of view, weakened Nadal in the service.

It was a slate night.

I didn't hit the first ones and the cracks started to appear.

In his second turn to serve, the Mallorcan already had to put out the fire three times and the Russian, what a barbarous lever, what elasticity to counterattack and take blows from Martian positions, began to kick the door with the clear idea of ​​giving the first bite.

What to do?

Row, row and row.

And the party gave an unsuspected swerve.

While weathered the storm, Nadal found oil in a slip of his adversary, who until then did not miss a serve and had not left a single crack.

Nerves and precipitation

Suddenly Medvedev clouded over, Nadal saw some light and launched himself with everything.

At the first

option

, the Spaniard showed his fang and hit the mark.

It attracted him towards the net and showed off his hand speed to achieve the imbalance, pure gold with the 5-3.

Air, what a good need it was.

The one in Moscow does not grant a truce, a programmed tennis player who constantly suffocates, more or less inside the court.

Far from shrinking, in the second set he decided to take a step forward and gained presence on the line.

There he charged with everything and Nadal, clinging upside down cut to stop the excess of revolutions, trying to sleep the ball, managed to counterattack after the break embedded in the second game.

He broke for 4-3 and without letting the Russian catch his breath, he hit again for 5-4, when he came from 4-1 and 15-40 against.

He found the corridor, it served to close the pass and, strangely enough, more in him, the rush could.

The Manacor rushed, nervous, wanting to finish so fast that he stopped braking and Medvedev, a torment, exhausting, returned the slap (blank) and in the

was measuring distances with cold blood to guide the pulse towards a the thorniest territory.

Medvedev drives to the limit in each rally and translates it into a strenuous exercise of concentration and containment that does not interest anyone, of course, except him.

In the third heat, Nadal lowered the piston one point and the Russian did not forgive.

Physically squeezed the Balearic after so much traffic, from so much stress, he delivered the serve in the seventh game and the story is over.

He finished this latest round of the Masters, an elusive tournament that this year put a tennis player without a single hole in the way.

To a martyrdom in the shape of an octopus and with an armored mind named Daniil Medvedev.

"I WISH THE VACCINES ARE EFFECTIVE"

Logically touched, by the opportunity that slipped from his hands, Nadal shelved the course before journalists with the bittersweet flavor of the moment: happy for what was achieved, which in a short time have been things more than valuable, and disappointed by the development of the meeting with Medveded.

"I haven't had the ability to play well at the time I had to close the game, and if you play against one of the best in the world and don't take advantage of it ... It's complicated," he reproached himself; “It is a hard day, I have lost an important opportunity and I am sad about the defeat, but life goes on. I am grateful to have been able to play for the last time here, and more considering the conditions we are experiencing ”.

Having conquered Acapulco, his thirteenth Roland Garros (which allowed him to equal Roger Federer with 20 greats) and also leaving the 1000 notch of his career, the Mallorcan was satisfied in a 2020 to be forgotten, from the non-sports perspective.

“This year's note? I think this year it is not necessary to put notes ... The only note is negative, due to the extreme situation we are experiencing. Everything else takes a back seat. The season has been strange, but from what I've played, good. I am happy with what has been achieved ”, he said.

Regarding his plans for 2021, with the uncertainty surrounding the calendar and dates of the Australian Open, he expressed: “I have a clear path: rest for a few days and then start training hard. I will try to be ready for January 15th, to the best of my ability, that's my goal. I have to work hard to be a better player next year. You have to squeeze and prepare thoroughly to start with the maximum enthusiasm, "he continued.

And Nadal settled: “Hopefully the vaccines that are being talked about are effective and hopefully next year, after a few months, we can play with some normality again.