Daniil Medvedev has only the Nitto ATP Finals as a means of ‘saving’ his season. The Russian ace did not have a total negative result in 2024, but not having won even one title is a big blow for a player of his caliber. The former world number 1 has very rarely expressed his best tennis this season and there is a feeling that two players are clearly superior to him at this time. Carlos Alcaraz has a style that exposes all the problems of Daniil, who perhaps only at the 2023 US Open managed to surprise the young Spanish champion.
In 2024, the four-time Grand Slam champion defeated him in the final of the Indian Wells Masters 1000, the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships and the ATP Beijing semifinals last month. Even world number 1 Jannik Sinner became a black beast for Medvedev, who had dominated the first part of their rivalry.
The inertia has changed since the 2023 ATP final in Beijing, as the Italian ace won seven of his last eight matches against the Russian. The only victory for the Moscow champion this year was in the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships, also due to a malaise that struck Jannik in the hours before the match.
Daniil Medvedev without titles
The former world number 1 is not among the favorites at the ATP Finals in Turin, which will start on Sunday. Sinner, Zverev and Alcaraz start ahead of him, not forgetting that Daniil does not show up to this tournament with much confidence. The 2021 US Open champion had a great chance of winning his first title of the season at the Rolex Paris Masters last week, given the absence of Sinner and the premature elimination of Alcaraz. However, the Russian was already out in the second round by Australian ace Alexei Popyrin showing several signs of nervousness.
During an interview with ‘Tennishead’ before the start of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, the current World No.4 opened up on his current status: “This is actually a very good question because sometimes it’s not easy. Sometimes you wake up feeling not well and you don’t even want to go to the gym. Other guys will train and become better than you, and I hate when someone becomes better than me. I like to win, I hate to lose. I like competition, I want to improve myself, and that’s what drives me, this hate of losing, this desire to win, to improve myself and to win bigger titles. That’s why you have to train every day. Sure, sometimes the team and I take a few days off, but when I need to train, I will.”
The feeling is that Medvedev has to do a very specific job during the off-season, so he can get to the 2025 Australian Open with new solutions and ‘weapons’ to defeat the current top players. The former world number 1 must also improve his second serve, given the excessive number of double faults committed in many matches during this year.
A very important off-season
His coaches Gilles Cervara and Gilles Simon are analyzing many videos to understand how to improve the game of Daniil, who also needs a psychological boost at this time. During this season, the Russian has often complained about the balls used in the ATP tournaments and the excessive slowness of the courts.
“Yeah, maybe, when I say a bit too fast, when it’s the fastest on tour, you can feel it, everyone can feel it, so we’re like a bit of surprised. We need time to adapt to it. I have a bigger problem on tour. You know, some players get advantaged by it; some players disadvantaged. It’s okay. It can happen. But it’s big disadvantage for me,” Medvedev said during the Rolex Paris Masters last week.
“As I say, some players will like this ball, so I get it. I’m crying because it disadvantages me. But if you take six balls out of the new balls out of the can, if you look closely and you bounce them, there are going to be six different balls. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to be.
I think it basically favors people who can benefit power from dead balls. Some have better quality with this. Some don’t. Actually the two best players at doing this.. they’re already the best players in the world.. and I’m sure they would be without the balls, but with these balls.. they’re the only players who can generate crazy power. It’s Jannik and Carlos. It gives them an extra edge,” he added.
