Daniil Medvedev won his maiden career major title on Sunday, defeating world number one Novak Djokovic in sets in the US Open final and denying the Serbian a first calendar Grand Slam in 52 years. And Medvedev’s celebration after the win was just as iconic as the fiery aces that won him the final. 

The celebration in question is from the popular football-based video game ‘FIFA’, which the Russian world number two admitted he was a big fan of. Following his win over Djokovic, the 24-year-old collapsed on the court and said he was imitating the “dead fish celebration” from the game.

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Medvedev said he first thought of the idea during the Wimbledon, adding that when he told other people who play the game of the idea, they thought it was “legendary”. 

“Only legends will understand this. All I did after the match was L2 plus left,” Medvedev said. “That’s how I wanted to make it.”

However, he admitted the celebration hurt a little, given that the hard courts at the Flushing Meadows are not as comfortable to fall upon as the lush grasses at the Wimbledon. 

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“It’s not easy to make it on hard courts,” Medvedev said. “I got hurt a little bit, but I’m happy I made it legendary for myself.”

Medvedev’s happiness is understandable, given the way he dominated the best player in the world for nearly two hours in the showpiece event. Medvedev started the game on the front foot, breaking Djokovic in the very first game of the set and held on from there to claim the first set. 

He won 76% of second serves against 44% for Djokovic and broke the Serbian four out of seven times en route to the win. He also fired 16 aces, 10 more than Djokovic as he outplayed the Serbian at his own game.