Daniil Medvedev’s semi-finals defeat a relief for Wimbledon officials

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Wimbledon officials can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that Carlos Alcaraz has made it to Sunday’s men’s final.

On Friday Alcaraz beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-final and advanced to his first Wimbledon final. He’ll face Novak Djokovic, who defeated Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Alcaraz against Djokovic, the top two seeds, is a dream matchup for tennis fans as both have been the class of the field. Djokovic, 36, is a seven-time Wimbledon champion and he’ll be going for his 24th Grand Slam victory. Alcaraz is 16 years younger, but he’s considered the game’s rising star and has one Grand Slam title to his credit already.

The highly anticipated match will also save Wimbledon’s organizers from a potentially awkward situation had Medvedev, who is from Moscow, won on Friday.

Since the start of play, organizers had been bracing for the possibility of a Russian or Belarusian player winning a singles titles. They were haunted by the prospect of the Princess of Wales handing the trophy to someone from Russia or its key ally, given the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Wimbledon had only reluctantly allowed Russians and Belarusians back into the tournament this year after banning them in 2022, a move that led to sanctions from the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours. Even then, organizers had compelled Russians and Belarusians to sign a “statement of neutrality.”

Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Tennis Club, faced repeated questions about how organizers would cope with a Russian or Belarusian champion. “When we made the decision earlier this year to admit Russians and Belarusians, we thought really carefully about all of those things, and having made the decision to admit them, we are comfortable about how that plays out,” she told reporters this week.

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Organizers didn’t count on many of the Russians and Belarusians playing some of their best tennis and winning over fans with their sunny dispositions.

Medvedev had never gone this far at Wimbledon and neither had two of his compatriots – Andrey Rublev and Roman Safiullin – who both made it to the quarter-finals for the first time.

On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus advanced to the semi-finals while 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who hails from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, captivated everyone’s attention by defeating two seeded players en route to the fourth round.

Going into the tournament, Medvedev said he wasn’t sure what to expect from the crowd, given Britain’s staunch backing of Ukraine. “As for the fans, I have no idea. I don’t know. I go on the court, then I see,” he said two days before the opening round. When asked about his views on Ukraine, Medvedev gamely replied; “I always said the same. I am for peace.”

His carefree, happy-go-lucky demeanour won applause throughout the tournament including on Friday when the crowd urged him on.

“It’s been absolutely amazing,” Medvedev said Friday of the support he has received. “Not only during the matches on the court. Generally, if anyone saw me in the city, or in the cafés or stuff like this, it was a great, great atmosphere. Really grateful. Will be happy to come back to England many more times.”

His exuberance wasn’t as visible for much of the match against Alcaraz. The Spaniard wowed the crowd with his power, shot selection and movement. He made Medvedev pay for standing so far back to receive serves, by using delicate drop shots and near-perfect placement.

When Medvedev mounted a slight comeback in the third set by breaking Alcaraz’s serve twice, Alcaraz responded by matching both breaks.

As he prepared to serve out the match at 5-3, Alcaraz gave a smile before launching the ball with the score tied 30-30. He won it two points later with a forehand winner.

“This one probably was one of my best matches, not only on grass but on the tour. I rate like eight from 10, something like that,” Alcaraz said afterward.

As for taking on Djokovic: “Probably is going to be, I mean, the best moment of my life.”

Even Djokovic acknowledged that facing Alcaraz in the final was probably inevitable. “I think, judging by the performances that we have seen from all the players, I think this is probably the best finals that we could have,” he said. “It’s going to be a great challenge, greatest challenge that I could have at the moment from any angle, really: physical, mental, emotional.”

Earlier this week, Rublev said he wasn’t sure that he and other Russians were worthy of so much fan support, even though he has spoken out against the war. “To be from the country where I am, to have this support, it’s special. I feel sometimes I don’t deserve it or something like that,” he said. “I’m really grateful for this.”

He didn’t feel guilty for being Russian, he added, just uncomfortable. “It’s more just the situation is terrible,” he said. “You want these … terrible things to be able to finish as fast as possible.”