Roger Federer’s magnificent 17-year-old feat remains intact with Daniil Medvedev’s US Open exit

Over the years, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have managed to change claim over the Australian Open and Wimbledon trophy while Rafael Nadal, being the King of Clay, has remained possessive of his French Open title. But US Open has remained the only trophy in men’s singles history over the last two decades which has seen multiple players staking their claim, but none ever managed what Federer had recorded at the Flushing Meadows 17 years back. Daniil Medvedev was backed to break the long wait, but on Monday, the defending champion was knocked out by Nick Kyrgios in a thrilling four-set tie.

Medvedev was among the favourites for the title. He won all his matches in the first week of the tournament in straight sets, but Kyrgios emulated his Montreal feat, as he got the better of Medvedev for the fourth time in his career.

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With Medvedev’s US Open exit, Federer remains the last ever player in men’s singles category to have successfully retained the title in New York. Having claimed his very first at the Arthur Ashe Stadium back in 2004, Federer retained the throne in New York for four consecutive years, winning in 2005, 2006, 2007 and in 2008, which also remains his last title at the venue.

Since 2009, US Open has been won by eight different players in the men’s singles category. Nadal has won the most number of times (4), followed by Djokovic (three) while the others include Juan Martín del Potro, who had broken Federer’s dominance in US Open back in 2009, Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev.

Overall, it hasn’t been a memorable Grand Slam season for Medvedev. He was inches away from his second major, when he went two sets up against Nadal in Australian Open before conceding the lead. He then lost to Cilic in his fourth-round tie at Roland Garros before missing out on Wimbledon owing to the organisers’ ban on Russian and Belarusian players. And eventually suffered a fourth-round exit in New York.