Medvedev, n ° 1 lost and injury: an uphill 2022

Ten points, 8420 to 8410. A truly negligible gap, the one that separates Daniil Medvedev from the summit of Novak Djokovic, but which photographs a perfectly strange and absurd beginning of 2022 by the Russian tennis player. They were, they had to be his months, especially because his most threatening opponent on concrete, Djokovic in fact, practically did not play, given the well-known problems due to the Covid vaccine and related exemptions. He had to win everything from the Australian Open to American tournaments. He had to dominate. None of this. And now the injury (hernia) that will make him sit still for maybe 2 months.

Without energy

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The last defeat before the injury in the quarter-finals in Miami, against the always good Hubert Hurkacz. To return n.1 in the world, after the two-week parenthesis between February and March, Medvedev had to reach the semifinals, so it was necessary, indispensable, to beat the Pole. No way. The Russian did not offer too bad a performance, but lackluster. And it has been happening to him for a while. He wins, of course, but his tennis is light years away from the extraordinary one he had shown between the end of 2020 and 2021, when he crowned it all by beating Djokovic in the final of the US Open. It seemed the beginning of something big, maybe not of a domination, but it was certainly a much heavier promise than that of Dominic Thiem, who disappeared after winning, in turn, the US slam of 2020. In Miami, against Hurkacz, Among other things, the same thing happened to Medvedev against Popyrin last year, that is, he was hit by cramps. A problem that the Russian has not yet been able to solve completely, that of “muscle weakness”, due both to the type of game and probably also to the physique. “Suddenly every muscle in my body had cramps, cramps, cramps. I looked like a fish on the sofa ”, he tried to play down # 2 in the conference.

The operation

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Then the news of the injury. Certainly there are two factors that weigh in this negative moment of the Russian, apart from injury. The first, of course, is war. What is happening in Ukraine cannot fail to affect him, the other Russian tennis players and obviously the Ukrainian ones. Above all Medvedev is very, very attached to his country, so much so that his residence is in Moscow, having refused to do like other athletes and move to Monte Carlo or other tax havens, demonstrating his attachment to his roots. . He has repeatedly declared that he is in favor of peace, but in the eyes of the world he has not taken a clear stance against the war, so much so that, in recent weeks, the British government has asked whether it would not be appropriate not to participate in Wimbledon he and the other Russian tennis players. “It’s not easy these days to go around the locker room. With my friends in Russia and with my family we often talk about politics and as happens everywhere, everyone has their opinion. I try not to go too far and, even if on the pitch I play tough, I always try to respect everyone’s opinions. Each country in its history has experienced different moments, completed its journey, with its roots – said Medvedev -. I will be able to answer the question to your question, maybe in 20, 10, 5 years. Now I have no answer. My message is always the same: I want peace all over the world and in all countries. I think all tennis players will tell you the same. ” Not enough according to many, given that from his words a public condemnation of Putin never appeared. The second factor, more sporty, is the final lost at the Australian Open against Nadal from two sets to zero above. It was a game over, he knows it too. Net of Rafa’s tactical intelligence, his ability to fight, a defeat of this kind weighs heavily. Tsitsipas knows it well, who still does not seem to have recovered from the final against Djokovic in Paris, when the same thing happened to him.