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Daniil Medvedev knows he will have to be the \u201cbest-ever version\u201d of himself if he is to win a second US Open title.<\/p>\n
Medvedev rated himself a 12 out of 10 for his surprise semi-final victory over world number one and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
Presumably the Russian third seed will have to crank that up to at least 13 if he is to deny Novak Djokovic a 24th grand-slam title.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Novak, it\u2019s always the same. He is always better than the previous time he plays,\u201d said Medvedev.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor example, I beat him in the US Open final, then he beat me in Bercy in a great match. Carlos beat him at Wimbledon, he beat him in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovak is going to be his best version on Sunday, and I have to be the best-ever version of myself if I want to try to beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medvedev\u2019s only grand-slam title to date came in\u00a0that 2021 Flushing Meadows final, a straight-sets win over Djokovic.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI think the only way I can do that is, as I say, thinking that Novak, when he loses, he\u2019s never the same after. So he\u2019s different. It\u2019s just a different mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why he has 23 grand slams, (however many) Masters 1000s, weeks at number one. So I have to use it knowing that he\u2019s going to be 10 times better than he was that day.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd I have to be, if I want to still beat him, 10 times better than I was that day. That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic is bidding to become the oldest New York champion in the Open era, surpassing 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact is that at 36, every grand-slam final could be the last one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think that I probably value these occasions and opportunities to win another slam more than maybe 10 years ago, because 10 years ago I felt like I still have quite a few years ahead of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how many I have ahead of me now, or I don\u2019t know how many of the years where I play four slams in the whole season I have in front of me.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo of course I am aware of the occasion. But I try to approach Sunday\u2019s match as basically any other match with intention to win, and I\u2019ll play my opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that it\u2019s going to be the toughest challenge, without a doubt, not just because it\u2019s a final but also because of who I\u2019m playing, the last time I faced him in a grand-slam final I lost.\u201d<\/p>\n