Daniil Medvedev and Tsitsipas used to have a bit of tension.
Many people like to have a bit of drama to go along with their sports news. Rivalries seem somewhat better if there is a hint of personal dislike among the players or teams. Maybe the players secretly meet up for a drink after their match or game and let the rest of the world guess what makes them hate each other while they are sharing a laugh. Maybe that has become the case with Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The issue between the players began in 2018 when after winning their match at the Miami Masters, Medvedev appeared extremely agitated at Tsitsipas. Medvedev would later say that he heard the Greek say “(expletive) Russian” during the match and Medvedev wanted to address the matter further. But not much came from the meeting at the net.
In 2019, Tstsipas told the press that Medvedev’s game was “boring” (which, to be fair, his game is anything but boring) and that if a player could return the Russian’s serve then the point just became one long rally. Maybe the Greek was just trying to set Medvedev to be too emotionally charged the next time they played. This is the game within the game of tennis anyway.
Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas appear to be on better terms currently
For the record, Medvedev does hold the head-to-head lead over Tsitsipas 9-4.
But those events all seem to be in the past and the two players have even done practice sessions together. Are they friends now? Who knows? But they both appear more than ready to put any problems they had with each other behind them.
This is why it is odd in a recent interview with Russian website Sport-Express that Medvedev was asked a strange question about Tsitsipas. The query was whether the Russian would have a glass of wine with the Greek. Medvedev answered in his normally wry way.
“I don’t drink wine.” This was followed by a small laugh.
But Medvedev did not stop answering the general question about whether he and Tsitsipas had patched the issues they had. He said, “In tennis, in general, being very close friends with someone is difficult. You need to know each other for a long time, have common interests…It seems to me that now we have a completely normal, respectful relationship.
“Who knows, maybe there will be some more controversy on the court. But, in my opinion, everything developed only in a positive direction for us. Now we respect each other as athletes and treat each other completely calmly.”
All that is true, of course. If you are constantly competing with someone for a common goal and the only people who can stop you from reaching the peak of what you do is your opponents, it may be tough to be friends with those people. At least when it comes to Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, they appear to be on better terms.
That is good for tennis, even if Medvedev’s loss to Karen Khachanov in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters was not good for the player. Stefanos Tsitsipas, however, won the event and is now back in the top ten on the ATP tour.
