INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Before Thursday, Daniil Medvedev’s celebration highlight reel was already remarkable. It included his dead fish impersonation after winning the 2021 U.S. Open over Novak Djokovic. It’s a gamer thing, he said at the time. There’s the wiggling dance after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 Italian Open in Rome. Another after beating Dominic Koepfer at the 2019 U.S. Open.
He’s been pretty tame in his celebrations for a while, mostly because he hasn’t had much cause for them in a difficult year or so since losing the 2024 Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner. But then came his quarterfinal win over Arthur Fils at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Medvedev won in a third-set tiebreak, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(7), the sport’s version of extra time.
On the winning point, Fils served and volleyed and appeared to finish the point on his second shot, but Medvedev lunged to his right and somehow swatted a ball back over the net. Still, he was well off the court. All Fils had to do was block it back, but his volley somehow floated over the baseline.
And then Medvedev, who is all legs and arms, turned into a jumping bean-octopus hybrid. He leaped and flailed his arms, once, twice, four times, as he surged toward the net roaring with delight. Then he realized he was basically in Fils’ face. His expression turned to conciliation. He stopped flailing, and credited Fils for the match. The Frenchman had smashed his racket as Medvedev was going wild with joy.
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Medvedev said afterwards that he had lost a number of heartbreakers recently, including a fifth-set tiebreak to Learner Tien in Australia, and needed the release of coming through on the winning side.
“The more you lose matches like this, the more you lose confidence in these tight moments,” he said. “If I would have lost this one, I would have felt bad. If I made a winner on match point, I would probably be less excited, because I was surprised, I thought the point is over and we go again, and he missed it. It happens.
“I was surprised, and that got my adrenaline too much. I couldn’t control it.”
He knows how close he was to losing this one. He was down a break in the third set and came back. Then he thought a Fils shot was headed for the line to get the Frenchman to match point. It flew just beyond it. Medvedev, who has reached three Indian Wells semifinals in a row, with two finals in the past two years, despite having a love-hate relationship with its courts, thrived on the fine margins this time.
“That’s how tennis is sometimes, you know, you need to touch this line,” Medvedev said.
“I run, I fight. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t. I was happy it worked out today.”
Indeed he was.
(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
