"People beat Djokovic, even beat Nadal on clay, which is impossible": Medvedev rubbishes impossible task of beating Alcaraz at US Open

Daniil Medvedev discussed his chances of defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the US Open and mentioned Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

The World No. 3 lived up to the favorites' tag in his matches during the tournament, defeating two seeded players along the way: Alex De Minaur (13th) and his compatriot Andrey Rublev (8th).

In the semifinals, he will face the World No. 1 and defending US Open champion, Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish player arrives with great confidence after winning Wimbledon and will be seeking his 12th consecutive triumph at Flushing Meadows against Medvedev.

The Russian commented on why Alcaraz is such a challenging opponent to beat.

"Yeah, I would say what makes him that difficult is just that he has every shot. He has extra power to other players. So it's true many players probably I would go with 97%, it's tough for them to hit the ball through me, like I'm always there, always running, always trying to get it back," Daniil Medvedev said.

"He can do it just because he has this power, we see it 100 mile forehand winner and stuff like this. Some players, even if we try, we cannot do it," he added.

The 2021 US Open champion believes that in tennis, no player is invincible and pointed out that there are individuals who have defeated Djokovic and Nadal:

"So that's one thing he's good from forehand, backhand, he can slice, dropshot. So he has every shot in the game. But again, tennis, you can always beat players. People beat Novak. People even beat Rafa on clay, which is almost impossible but some players do. It's the same about Carlos," Russian athlete said.

Medvedev emphasized that he needs to improve his service if he wants to have a chance against Alcaraz:

"Every time I will be playing against him I want to try to win, so I said it one time already, I need to serve better than I did the previous matches. I need to serve on the line if I need to. I need to put my shots on the line and stuff like this. I need to be there 100% of the time and be better," Medvedev said.