Daniil Medvedev still occupies the top positions of the ATP ranking, but he cannot be completely satisfied by analyzing his season. The former world number 1 reached the final at the Australian Open and the semi-finals at the Wimbledon Championships, but did not win a single title in 2024. The Russian champion is an exceptionally consistent player, especially in hard court tournaments, but the feeling is that the rise of young talents like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has diminished his chances of winning other Grand Slam and Masters 1000 titles.
The 2021 US Open champion seemed one step closer to triumph in Melbourne earlier this year as he led two sets to zero against Sinner in the final. The Moscow tennis player has suffered a great comeback of the Italian ace, which made the difference in the second part of the match also taking advantage of the fatigue of his opponent (who had struggled to reach the final).
Medvedev took his revenge on Jannik on the grass at Wimbledon, but was defeated by Alcaraz in the semi-finals despite having won the first set. Daniil was one of the big favorites at the US Open, especially after the premature eliminations of Novak Djokovic and Carlitos Alcaraz in the first week, but he had to give up again to Sinner in the quarterfinals.
Medvedev is nervous
Daniil was in the 2024 edition of the Laver Cup in Berlin last weekend, but did not make a big contribution to Team Europes victory. The former world number 1 was defeated by Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, despite a surface that is very suited to his style of play. The Russian champion has shown that he is not serene at this stage of his career, having risked disqualification in his match against Shelton for having thrown his racket.
I didnt want to throw my racket the way I did. I mean... I wanted to throw it at one place, which is a bad gesture on my part. I was lucky. I did not touch anyone. When you dont touch anyone, youre not disqualified. Thats all. I just think I shouldnt have done that he explained after the match.
The runner-up of the 2024 Australian Open is not going through the best moment of his career and needs to find the right serenity to close the season well. Medvedev has the ideal style of play to achieve great results in indoor hard court tournaments, particularly at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
The Russian ace is struggling
In a recent interview, the Russian star opened up on his season: "I dont have any explanation but if you ask me, I prefer to play better in the Grand Slam tournaments, so thats a good thing. I would definitely prefer to play better in some other tournaments, but you know, I had some good results at Indian Wells or Miami, maybe Madrid if I hadnt injured myself. I feel like I have motivation in every tournament I play, but I could give you 10 different reasons or excuses why I lost each match. Before I didnt like to play five sets, every time they ask me I always say to play best of three, but I know that maybe it will help me solve the problems my opponent proposes. I hope to continue playing better in the Grand Slam and play a little better in the rest of the tournaments".
He also added: "In tennis it is important to think that a new opportunity will always come, even if it is not always easy to believe in it. It also happens the other way around, you may have won a Grand Slam or an ATP 500, but the next week losing in the first round of a Masters 1000, at that time you already forgot your title because of that defeat. Its important to keep pushing, we play every week on this tour, or were all traveling, training and moving forward. The harder your mind gets, usually the more matches you lose, the more tournaments you lose in a row. Weve seen this in some players after the Olympics, how hard it is to push non-stop, so a good mental advice would be this, try to avoid exhaustion and push every week".
Last year, Medvedev was defeated by Sinner three times in a row in the latter part of the season. The current world number 1 defeated the Russian ace in the semifinal of the Beijing ATP 500, in the final of the Vienna ATP 500 and in the semifinal of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
