How many hours has Daniil Medvedev spent on court compared to Jannik Sinner, can he break Carlos Alcaraz’s record?

Daniil Medvedev v Jannik Sinner comparison

Daniil Medvedev will start the Australian Open final rival Jannik Sinner with a handicap due to the amount of time he has spent on court, according to Tim Henman.

World No 3 Medvedev will play in his sixth Grand Slam final on Sunday as he looks to add to the 2021 US Open title he won while Sinner will play in his maiden major final.

But their routes to the final have been contrasting with Sinner dropping only one set – against Novak Djokovic in the semi-final – while Medvedev has played three five-setters and two four-setters.

After Medvedev came back from the brink to defeat Alexander Zverev in five incredible sets in the last four, Henman admitted the former world No 1 will feel the effects.

“The one person who will be loving that is Jannik Sinner,” he told Eurosport. “Medvedev will have to do the best he can in those circumstances and try to recover the best he can tomorrow. But for me, he starts the final with a significant deficit in terms of energy.”

Hours Spent On Court

In terms of actual time spent on court, Medvedev has clocked 20 hours and 33 minutes and Sinner 14 hours and 44 minutes.

Both players will have a day to recover following Friday’s semi-finals, but Medvedev’s win over Alexander Zverev lasted four hours and 18 minutes while Sinner took three hours and 22 minutes to get past Djokovic. Sinner’s match also took place earlier in the day so he had a couple of extra hours off.

Medvedev, though, has a chance to break the record for most time spent on court during a Grand Slam title run as he is “just” three hours and six minutes shy of that milestone.

Carlos Alcaraz currently holds the record as he spent 23 hours and 39 minutes on court during his 2022 US Open title success.

Medvedev could well become the first man to clock 24 hours – a full day – on court en route to winning a Grand Slam, but then again he will have to overcome “a significant deficit” if he is to defeat the fresh Sinner.

The two-time Australian Open finalist admitted that he was feeling tired midway during the third set, but somehow recovered.

And the next day will be all about recovery.

“I need to recover well and be 100% on Sunday,” he said. “We have a saying ‘third time lucky’. Let’s see, I can say from experience that it’s not always like this but hopefully here it’ll work. It would mean a lot. This court is not my best court in terms of my performance and my self-esteem.

“That’s why I often have to dig deep at this tournament. I would be the happiest man on the planet but for that I have to play pretty well and win three sets on Sunday.”