Practice Pass: Daniil Medvedev tunes up his shots for Wawrinka

Medvedev and Wawrinka have played twice, and Medvedev has won both times in four sets. There were, possibly, extenuating circumstances in both cases. Their first match, at Wimbledon in 2017, was also the last that Wawrinka played before undergoing knee surgery that year. And during their second match, at last year’s US Open, Stan looked less than fully healthy, and played like it, too. Either way, this should be a highly competitive and intriguing game of cat and mouse. Wawrinka is a rhythm player, and during Slams he’s been known to get into an unbeatable one. But Medvedev’s specialty is breaking up his opponent’s rhythm. Judging by his form so far—he’s dropped one set in three matches—he’s doing it just as well he did over the second half of 2019.

Winner: Medvedev