Daniił Miedwiediew

[Lucas]

[Bombardiero]

[DUN I LOVE]

Królu, czekamy.

[Damian]

Medvedev's Chase For World No. 1

Spoiler:

The Russian has a chance to take World No. 1 by the end of Rome
Daniil Medvedev is making his clay-court season debut at the Mutua Madrid Open. And over the next two weeks, the Russian star will be battling for more than just titles in Madrid and Rome.

With strong efforts at the Caja Magica and the Foro Italico, Medvedev will turn up the heat on Novak Djokovic in the battle for World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

Medvedev has a chance to ascend to No. 1 by the end of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. If the Russian wins his first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid or Rome and advances to at least the semi-finals at the other tournament, and Djokovic does not make the Rome final, Medvedev will become the first player outside the Big Four to hold World No. 1 since Andy Roddick was there the week of 26 January 2004.

This will be a tough task for Medvedev, who has never won a match in Madrid, Rome or at Roland Garros. But nevertheless it is a big opportunity.

"As soon as you reach No. 2, of course you want to stay [there] as much time as possible. But at the same time the next goal, if you want to improve, is to get to No. 1," Medvedev said. "It’s not like you need to just go to your house and for one month run around your flat 10 times every day and you’re going to become No. 1. It’s all about playing good, winning big titles, so It’s not a goal that you can achieve logically. You just need to play very good and win huge titles and that’s what I will be trying to do."

Medvedev currently sits at World No. 3, having been passed by Rafael Nadal for No. 2 following the Spaniard’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell victory. The Russian is 2,263 points behind Djokovic. But that gap is not as wide as it appears.

Points Dropping In Madrid, Rome & Paris

Player Madrid Rome RG Total
Current
Points

Points After
Drops

Djokovic 500 500 600 1,600 11,963 10,363
Nadal 180 910 1,000 2,090 9,810 7,720
Medvedev 5
5

5 15 9,700 9,685
Medvedev has relatively few points to defend in the coming weeks. The Russian will drop a combined 15 points in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros compared to 1,600 for Djokovic and 2,090 for Nadal.

Djokovic is not in action this week in Madrid, but he will keep 500 points (50% of the points from his 2019 title) due to the current "best of" FedEx ATP Ranking formula, which has been recalibrated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Serbian is guaranteed to keep at least 500 points in Rome, where he won the title last year. He is still plenty motivated to keep his top spot, which he has held for a record 319 weeks.

“In order to stay at the top ranking spot, you have to keep playing and not just keep playing, but keep making successful runs at most of your events in order to have a chance,” Djokovic said. “Being at No. 1 is also a huge responsibility, but you feel that rear window pressure from Daniil at this point or Rafa or whoever it is. There’s always somebody. The challengers want to get there. They want to challenge you, they want to push you.

"I think the more they push me, the more I have motivation to work even harder to stay there.”

Nadal at a minimum will hold onto 180 points in Madrid (50% of the points from his 2019 semi-final) and 90 points in Rome (50% of his 2020 quarter-final). Since Medvedev has not won a match at those events, he will only drop five points from each (50% from opening-match exits).

Medvedev has not played since Miami because of a positive COVID-19 test ahead of Monte-Carlo. But the Russian has enjoyed success on clay before. In 2019, Medvedev made the Monte-Carlo semi-finals and the Barcelona final. The Russian admits it would feel "amazing" if he's able to battle his way to World No. 1.

"It’s one of the goals of the career. When you go from the juniors to professionals, you want to get in the Top 1,000, then you want to get in the Top 500 and [those are] small goals. Now I’ve reached almost every place except the No. 1 [spot], so it’s going to definitely mean a lot [if I get there]," Medvedev said. "But I’m sure especially if you ask people [who have been there] that as soon as you reach, it you’re going to start thinking, 'Okay, how do I stay here? How do I win more titles?'"

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/medvede ... -clay-2021

[Bombardiero]

[Damian]

[Damian]

[Damian]

Medvedev Gets His Wish, Off To Winning Start In Madrid

Spoiler:

Daniil Medvedev got his wish on Wednesday to win at least one match this week at the Mutua Madrid Open. The second-seeded Russian broke a six-match tour-level losing streak on clay with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in two hours and 13 minutes.

“I am happy with the win,” said Medvedev. “The first set wasn’t easy and I thought it was going to be where I had another 25 break points and I wouldn’t win. I finally played quite well and did well in the third set. I think Madrid is a little faster than other clay tournaments, so better for my game.”

Medvedev, who was playing his first match since losing to Roberto Bautista Agut on 31 March at the Miami Open presented by Itau, improved to an 18-3 match record in 2021 and will next challenge Chilean No. 16 seed Christian Garin, who was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Dominik Koepfer of Germany.


Following an exchange of breaks midway through the first set, Davidovich Fokina clinched the 53-opener when Medvedev struck a backhand long. Medvedev broke to lead 3-1 in the second set, before Davidovich Fokina worked his way back and led 3-3, 40/15. From there, it was all Medvedev, who reduced his error count. The 25-year-old finished their first ATP Head2Head meeting with an ace, his 19th winner, and is now 5-0 in deciding set match this season.

How To Watch

Medvedev finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final and went on to capture his 10th ATP Tour title at the Open 13 in Marseille (d. Herbert) in March. He has a chance to rise to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings if he captures the Madrid title, reaches at least the Internazionali BNL d'Italia semi-finals and other results go his way.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/medvede ... -wednesday

[Lucas]

[DUN I LOVE]

Piękna wrzutka na dobranoc.

[Damian]

Medvedev's Secret Soft Spot: McDonald's!

Spoiler:

The Russian will play Garin on Thursday
Three years ago, Daniil Medvedev was outside the Top 50 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. At the time, the Russian wasn’t focussed on winning big tournaments like ATP Masters 1000 events like he is this week at the Mutua Madrid Open. Instead, he was more worried about fixing his diet and post-match routines.

Fewer croissants, more porridge was his motto at the time. But on Wednesday after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Medvedev admitted that while fixing those things greatly helped his career, he still has a soft spot for a certain fast food restaurant.

“Many times when I lose a match or when I finish a tournament, I take McDonald's. I like McDonald's because it's really good in Russia,” Medvedev said. “It's much less good in USA and Europe. I don't know for which reasons [that is], so I many times regret taking it, but that's kind of a child’s dream. Many times if I lose a match, like when you are [down], I don't know, you take ice cream, I take McDonald’s.”

Medvedev certainly does not chow down on fast food during tournaments. That discipline is part of what has helped propel the World No. 3 to the top of the sport. The Russian does not regret making that choice.

“I was always saying, until I was 21 if I'm not mistaken, I was not really paying too much attention to small details,” Medvedev admitted. “I could enjoy life because I just thought that it wouldn't affect my tennis. Now I can say that when I sacrificed my life to tennis when I was 21, I said, ‘Okay, I'm going to go to bed early, I'm going to eat well.’ If I had a day off, I'm not going to walk for 10 kilometres to the beach. I'm going to rest and prepare for practice the next day. That's when the results came, so I [do not] regret it.”

On other off-court topics, a reporter asked Medvedev if he is superstitious, to which the 25-year-old said, “I feel like I'm not very superstitious. Just a little bit.” The third seed believes that many players’ superstitions simply come from routine.

“We need a good rhythm to play good, and to have a good rhythm you need to have a routine. The routine may be considered as a superstition,” Medvedev said. “For example, is it superstitious that I usually practise, of course if it's not a first match at 11:00, three hours [and] 30 [minutes] before? No, it's just to eat two hours [and] 30 [minutes] before [my match].

“But somebody [who] is more superstitious, [if] he's going to win his first ATP title eating three hours [and] 30 [minutes] before, he's going to say, ‘Okay, all my life I'm going to eat 3:30 before the match. We are all superstitious, some more, some less.”

Medvedev, whose victory against Davidovich Fokina was his first in Madrid, will next play 16th seed Cristian Garin for a spot in the quarter-finals.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/medvede ... y-reaction

[Damian]

[Bombardiero]

[Kamileki]

[DUN I LOVE]

Wspomnijmy raz jeszcze jak zaczynał stary-nowy wicelider rankingu ATP.

[Damian]

Medvedev: ‘It’s All About The Small Adjustments’ On Clay

Spoiler:

Russian to face Kecmanovic or Karatsev in opening match
Different week, same goal for Daniil Medvedev.

After breaking his duck with a maiden victory at the Mutua Madrid Open last week, the third seed has his sights set on doing the same at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Keeping the expectations in check and goals manageable has been the theme of the clay-court swing for Medvedev, who is famously averse to all things clay. After missing the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters due to COVID-19, Medvedev began his run with a 0-2 record in Madrid and Rome and 0-4 at Roland Garros.

But according to Medvedev, who will return to World No. 2 on Monday, the positive signs are there in Madrid after he took down an in-form Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening match and pushed 16th seed Cristian Garin to three sets.

You May Also Like: Scouting Report: Nadal Aims To Bounce Back In Rome, Thiem Arrives In Form
“If we talk about Madrid, of course in general the result I did there, I'm not happy, but I played against two really great clay-court players,” Medvedev said in his pre-tournament press conference.

“I mean, Davidovich beat [Matteo] Berrettini in Monte-Carlo, and now Berrettini is in the final in Madrid. Cristian was actually up a set and a break against Matteo, who is in the final of Madrid. [It] was two good matches, one that I managed to win, so [it] gives [me] some confidence.”

Medvedev also admitted that he’s still working to fine-tune his game on the red dirt, and is still trying to figure out the right formula for the results he is used to seeing on the faster surfaces. The Russian reached his second Grand Slam final on hard-courts at the Australian Open this year (also 2019 US Open) and ended last season with the biggest trophy of his career at the indoor Nitto ATP Finals.

How To Watch

But he has also fought to big wins on clay too. In 2019, Medvedev made the Monte-Carlo semi-finals with victories over Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas. That same year, he went on to reach the final in Barcelona (l. Thiem) with a victory over two-time champion Kei Nishikori along the way. With only five points to defend this week in the eternal city, if Medvedev can regain that form he could gain some ground on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

“I'm never going to be like some Spanish players that from [when] they are young they know, ‘Okay, I turn around the forehand, I spin the ball, I play high over the net, I make the ball bounce close to the line,’” Medvedev reflected.

“So I have to, with my shots that I know how to make work on hard courts, make small adjustments to make them work for clay… Physically I need to improve and matches will help me. It's about the small adjustments.”

Into the second round with a bye in Rome, Medvedev awaits the winner between Miomir Kecmanovic and countryman Aslan Karatsev for his first test.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/medvede ... 21-preview

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Demoliner/Medvedev Eliminate Murray/Soares In Rome

Spoiler:

Daniell/Oswald through in straight sets
Marcelo Demoliner and Daniil Medvedev recovered from a set and a break down on Monday to upset sixth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.

Demoliner and Medvedev trailed 6-3, 4-3 on Court 4, but they quickly recovered and dominated the Match Tie-break to reach the second round after one hour and 41 minutes. The Brazilian-Russian tandem also caused an upset at last week’s Mutua Madrid Open, where they overcame Miami and Monte-Carlo finalists Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski.

Demoliner and Medvedev will attempt to reach their third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final as a team this week. The pair advanced to the last eight at back-to-back clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte-Carlo and Madrid in 2019.

How To Watch

Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar needed a 30-point Match Tie-break to defeat Henri Kontinen and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 3-6, 7-6(5), 16-14. The Delray Beach and Marbella champions saved five match points during the Match Tie-break, before they converted their third opportunity to reach the second round after one hour and 39 minutes.

Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald saved all six break points they faced to beat Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4. The unseeded duo won 86 per cent of their first-serve points (30/35) to move past the Madrid quarter-finalists in 71 minutes.

John Peers and Michael Venus claimed a 7-6(7), 7-6(4) win against Austin Krajicek and Oliver Marach to earn their place in the second round. Peers and Venus, who saved a set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break, are making only their third 2021 appearance as a team this week.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/demolin ... les-monday

[Damian]

[Kamileki]