So, it’s very simple. Daniil Medvedev beat Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (4), 6-3 in Beijing, a week after his title in Hangzhou. In the semi-final he gets the winner of Djokovic against Zverev. And before knowing which one, he talked about Novak. I’m giving you the whole sentence, because it deserves to be framed: “Novak is crazy because he’s old, let’s not kid ourselves (laughs), but he can still play very well. Maybe a bit less well than when he was winning three Grand Slam titles a year, but he remains a formidable opponent”.
Count the “buts”. Two. That’s my method. I never pay a compliment without a “but”, which is exactly what I’ve been saying for years at the Léopold, nobody listens to me. The captain on the other side, in interclubs (Belgium’s team league), I always tell him: “Lovely forehand, but.” He never found out what came next. Neither did I, by the way, and that’s the whole art.
For the quarter-final, my forecast is clear. Djokovic wins, because experience. Zverev wins, because Djokovic is old, Medvedev said so. Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying. In ninety per cent of cases, and I’m being generous, I’ll be right about one of the two.
Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, my opponent told me at the net I was “still very solid for my age”. I was twenty-four. Or twenty-six. I took it as a tribute, then I lost in the third set, which proves he was right on the first point and wrong on the second.
I’ll watch the semi-final on Sporza (the Flemish broadcaster), to check nobody quotes me. If Medvedev wins, I said it. If he loses, I said that too, eh. Reread the “buts”.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
