Daniil Medvedev could not chase the title in Doha. The 2023 champion retired in the quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime after the opening set, citing food poisoning. However, the Russian did not leave Doha without any award.
Medvedev defeated two rivals and notched his 300th ATP hard-court victory. Thus, the 29-year-old earned a notable milestone, becoming the eighth active player to achieve that. Daniil is also the only player born after 1991 on that list!
The Russian has accomplished a lot on the most common tennis surface between 2019 and 2024. Medvedev is a proud owner of 18 hard-court ATP titles, lifting a trophy at seven of the nine most notable hard-court tournaments.
Daniil conquered five of six Masters 1000 tournaments and finished runner-up in Indian Wells. He is also the US Open champion and the three-time Australian Open finalist. Medvedev crowned his hard-court collection with the ATP Finals crown in 2020, with another final a year later.
The 29-year-old is now a proud owner of 300 hard-court ATP wins, joining an exclusive list of activeplayers as the only U30 player! Novak Djokovic, the most accomplished hard-court player of all time, stands miles above everyone with 716.
Gael Monfils is on 386, followed by Marin Cilic's 366. Richard Gasquet collected 358, 22 more than Stan Wawrinka, the winner of two Majorcrowns on this surface. Grigor Dimitrov failed to improve his tally (312) in Doha, and Daniil should catch him this season.
The Russian matched Kei Nishikori, who is also on 300 hard-court ATP wins. Daniil made a promising start on his favorite surface a year ago. He lost the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner from two sets to love up and finished runner-up in Indian Wells to Carlos Alcaraz.
Medvedev was the semi-finalist in Miami and Beijing and the quarter-finalist at the US Open and Shanghai. He suffered early losses in Paris and Turin, missing a chance to earn his milestone victory earlier. Daniil has yet to find his A-game in 2024.
He suffered early losses in Melbourne and Rotterdam before reaching the semi-final in Marseille. Medvedev will try to recover from his Doha setback and chase more wins in Dubai next week.
