Daniil Medvedev is coming off the worst season of his entire career, at least since he became a top player. The Russian champion had started 2024 very well by reaching the final at the Australian Open for the third time in his career, but was defeated by Jannik Sinner despite a two-set lead.
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It is not the first time that Daniil has lost a Grand Slam final with this advantage, as it had already happened to him in the final of the 2022 Australian Open against Rafael Nadal. That atrocious mockery has remained in the mind of Medvedev, who has lost his certainties and did not win a single title last season.
The former world number 1 suffers above all from the game of Sinner and Alcaraz, who know his weaknesses and know how to exploit them in decisive moments. The Russian ace did not shine even in the last part of the season on his favorite surface, the indoor hard court, exiting prematurely at both the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
A nightmare season
Daniil admitted that last season was a nightmare for him and he hopes to come back stronger in 2025. The 2021 US Open champion will have to defend the final at the Australian Open, otherwise he risks plummeting further in the ATP ranking and losing even more confidence.
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On the latest edition of the podcast hosted by Jimmy Connors, Spencer Segura analyzed Medvedev's regression in detail: Medvedev is a perplexing guy to me. Why he plays wrong all the time.
That guy, what kind of athlete is he at his height? He refuses to come in on return of second serve off of anybody on the baseline, he will not do it.
Segura continued: He needs to look at Roger Federer. He changed his game and started coming in. He became Mr Chip and Charge after 28 or 29.
Medvedev needs to return the second serve from inside, he has a great return. He needs to play more aggressively.
