Tennis professional Daniil Medvedev has worked his way out of his performance slump and is chasing from success to success. However, it was only a few weeks ago that the 27-year-old seemed to have lost touch with the top players.
The first greeting went to his old companion Andrei Rublev. Both have known each other since childhood and have fought countless duels on the tennis court. “Andrey is one of the most gifted players on the tour, he just hasn’t reached his full potential yet, but I’m sure he can win Grand Slams”said Daniil Medvedev.
The piquant thing about it: The 27-year-old Medvedev had almost shot his Russian compatriot off the field in the final of the tennis tournament in Dubai just minutes earlier in a one-sided final with a clear 6: 2, 6: 2.
Three tournament wins in a row
It’s easy for the sovereign winner to talk, you might think. Medvedev is undoubtedly on a roll right now. But he knows only too well that things can change quickly in professional tennis, that things are not always as easy as they feel right now. That is why Medvedev’s praise of Rublev was not poisonous, but meant completely seriously.
Medvedev has won 14 matches in a row in the past few weeks, winning three tournaments (Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai) in a row. These included games against top players such as world number one Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Felix Auger-Aliassime or Jannick Sinner. By no means a matter of course. His match record is even 20 wins in a row, set from November 2020 to January 2021.
Around $1.35 million in prize money has already flowed into his pockets in 2023. In the whole of last year, Medvedev, who developed an idiosyncratic hitting technique, only managed to win two tournaments. He is undoubtedly the player of the hour.
Longer phase of weakness
However, it was only a few weeks ago that the (tennis) world did not look so rosy for him. “In tennis you start having doubts when you don’t win matches”, said Medvedev, looking at the recent past. And that’s exactly what happened to him. Until the end of August 2022, it was he who led the world rankings – ahead of Djokovic, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal or the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
But then a long-lasting phase of weakness started for Medvedev, a few inexplicable defeats followed one another. At the end of January 2023, this negative series had dropped him down to twelfth place in the world. Both Australian Open in Melbourne At the beginning of the year he failed in the third round against the young American Sebastian Korda in three sets.
The recent upswing seems to have come promptly and unexpectedly. Medvedev does not seem to have an explanation for this himself. His self-confidence seems to have suddenly returned and with it the security in his shots. In the meantime, Medvedev has worked his way back up to sixth place in the rankings thanks to his long-term successes.
New title chances
Now Medvedev and the entire ATP entourage continue without a break with the important ones masters-1000 tournaments (only one category among the Grand Slams) in Indian Wells (California, March 8-19) and Miami (Florida, March 22 to April 2). Both take place on Medvedev’s favorite surface, the hard court. However, the timing could hardly be better for him.
Because although Medvedev has already reached many finals in his career and even won 18 tournaments (including the ATP Finals 2020 and even the US Open 2021), he has it with these two Events never made it to the final.
He has also won his titles on the tour in 18 different cities. He is the first player in the Open Erawho managed this feat. Medvedev will definitely try to further expand this record in the coming days and weeks in addition to his match statistics.