Prior to stepping out onto Rod Laver Arena to face Alexander Zverev in his Australian Open semi-final, Daniil Medvedev had already spent more than 16 hours on court over the course of the tournament.

In the second round, the Russian had to fight back from two sets down to overcome Ruusuvuori in a match that finished at 03:40 AM, before being taken the distance by Hubert Hurkacz in the heat of the day on a sweltering afternoon at Melbourne Park.

At two sets down against Zverev in their last four match, his second two-set deficit of the tournament, most feared the worse for Medvedev. In fact, it was those long and bruising earlier encounters that had provided the world No 3 with the mental tools and resilience to withstand yet another marathon match, as he explained in his post-match press conference.

“I’m stronger than I was before this tournament because now I know that I’m capable of some things maybe I thought I’m not,” Medvedev said.

“Because before I didn’t do anything like this to get to the final. So mentally I’m stronger than before, and I’m happy about it.

“Probably honestly, it’s better to be in the final winning three-set, four-set matches. That’s the better way physically. But it is what it is, and I’m proud and looking forward to the final to give my 100% again.”

medvedev no stranger to marathon matches on rod laver arena

Medvedev’s comeback against Zverev was the third time he has recovered from two sets down to win a match at the Australian Open, having twice done it in this year’s tournament.

But it wasn’t so long ago that the Russian was on the receiving end of one of the most crushing losses from two sets up, losing out to Rafael Nadal in 2022’s historic final.

There is something about Rod Laver Arena that seems to draw mammoth comeback matches out of Medvedev, whichever end of the result he is on.

Yet he concedes that he has never felt completely comfortable on the biggest show-court of Melbourne Park, despite now having reached three finals there.

“I think just in general, something like the court, the balls, I never felt, let’s say, 100% me and the court, where in US Open I have some matches where I feel like I cannot miss anymore and I’m just in the zone.

“Like the final against Novak (in 2021), when I won the semi-final against Carlos (in 2023) and some other matches.

“Here I always kind of… I can play well, I play well on hard courts, I won a lot of tournaments. I try to use my experience, try to use my shots. But even as today, I’m never in the flow to just win, I don’t know, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. That’s why every match is a bit tough.

“But look, it’s my third Australian Open final and it’s already pretty great, so I’m looking forward to it (smiling).”

prospect of another epic awaits in sunday’s enticing showpiece

Medvedev will take on Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s showpiece after the Italian toppled the 10-time champion Novak Djokovic in an historic achievement for the 22-year-old.

The Russian enjoys a 6-3 lead in their head-to-head, but Sinner won their last three encounters and is arguably the most in-form player in the world right now.

Medvedev is acutely aware that nothing other than his very best performance will be enough to stop the rapidly rising young Italian.

“The three matches, all of them were tough. Two tiebreaks and two three-setters. I had my chances.

“It was all of them were in the end of the season where I felt like I was not at my 100%, even if I was playing pretty good, but I was maybe at 97, 96. And against him, you need to be at 100.

“So if I want to beat him, I have to raise my level on a whole different level, and I will try to do it.”

If both bring their best level in Sunday’s final, then yet another five-setter is more than likely to be needed to separate the two.

Physically, one would assume that Sinner will be much fresher. Should it go the distance, however, it appears that Medvedev may well have the mental edge in the fifth, due to his tried-and-tested methods of resilience that have already got him through three marathon encounters en route to the final.