Daniil Medvedev prepares to face Jannik Sinner for the third time this season. The Russian player defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, showing that he is comfortable on these courts despite the recent controversy about balls. The former world number 1 will need a great performance if he wants to have a chance to beat the two-time Grand Slam champion, who has overturned the inertia of their rivalry in the last 12 months. The 23-year-old Italian has won six of the last seven matches against the Russian champion, who only prevailed in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
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This year, Jannik won against Medvedev in the Australian Open final, the Miami Masters 1000 semi-finals and the US Open quarterfinals. The feeling is that Sinner has now understood very well how to put in trouble the Moscow tennis player, who will have to try to surprise his opponent tomorrow as he did in the first two sets of the AO final at the beginning of the year.
The bookmakers considered the number 1 in the world clearly favored, even if he is not expressing his best tennis in this tournament. The 23-year-old from San Candido lost a set to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round and also risked something against Ben Shelton.
Medvedev is confident
This surface fits very well with the style of play of Daniil, who will have to serve very well and adopt a more aggressive tactic than usual from the baseline. Sinner has greatly expanded his arsenal in the last and it is no longer enough for Medvedev to prolong rallies to win so many points.
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The champion from Moscow is aware that he will have to play his best tennis: "I will fight until the end; I have had great battles with Jannik, and even though he dominates our head-to-head, I know I can play well and unsettle him. I must be very mentally strong; it will be tough physically, and I will need my best tennis, but I am ready for a great battle, I will stand up to him.
The Russian ace has not yet won an ATP title this year and cant be considered satisfied, even if he reached the final in Melbourne Park at the beginning of the year and the semifinals at Church Road. During this tournament, Medvedev spoke about the balls: I think these balls mainly favour players who can be powerful on a set shot. Some have real skills in this area of the game, others need movement.
In fact, the two best players in this area they are already the best players in the world and I am sure they would be without the balls, but with these balls only Alcaraz and Sinner can generate crazy power. It gives them an extra advantage. I try to fight with what I can. We train a lot. I try to get that power, which I have never had since I was young because of my body type. There have even been muscle tests that measure power, explosiveness, and I dont really have that explosiveness. I can generate a lot of power when I cross the ball, but not when I am set.
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A very tough opponent
On the other side of the net there will be a player who has won more than 60 matches this year and suffered only six defeats in all 2024. Sinner is truly a certainty in this incredible season on the ATP tour. In the 14th event in which he took part, the Italian always reached at least the quarterfinals. A statistic that has led him to reach a milestone for very few: in fact, the current world number one player became the fourth player of age 23 or younger to achieve this type of record after Jimmy Connors (1974), Guillermo Vilas (1976) and John McEnroe (1982). In the last 40 years, no one has ever been able to do it at such a young age, not even Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
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The Italian, followed by coaches Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, has scored victory number 75 in the last 52 weeks (after Shanghai last year). The number of claims against players outside the top 10 in the standings rose to 52: the only slip occurred in Monte-Carlo in the semi-finals against Greek ace Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the Masters 1000, the Italian achieved the fifth best success rate ever (74%): ahead of him are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz, while he has passed Andre Agassi.
Sinner will go hunting for the final stages of Shanghai: in the quarterfinals he will again face the obstacle Daniil Medvedev, before he can think to face Carlos Alcaraz after the defeat in the very balanced final act of Beijing. The final part of the season is still long and the 23-year-old from San Candido can and wants to achieve other important results.
