Daniil Medvedev believes that one of his rivals could surpass the likes of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz next year.
Daniil Medvedev believes that Stefanos Tsitsipas is capable of surpassing the likes of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to become the dominant force in men’s tennis. The world rankings have been dominated by Djokovic in recent years, with Alcaraz also enjoying a couple of brief spells at the top of the pile.
Sinner and Medvedev make up the rest of the current top four, while Tsitsipas is further down in sixth despite reaching the Australian Open final at the start of this year. His ranking position took a hit when crashed out of the US Open in the second round before he was knocked out of the ATP Finals in the group stage.
Medvedev, however, believes that Tsitsipas will have the opportunity to reach the very top next year given the different challenges that will be presented in 2024.
“For sure if we take last year and many, many different tournaments, we did separate a little bit from the rest at one point of the season and especially at the end, regarding the points,” said Medvedev.
“But I do think that this also shows that every season can be different. Stefanos Tsitsipas made a final in the Australian Open. For different reasons, [he] had a tougher end of the season, but he can come back there and pass me, Sinner or Carlos or Novak, anyone.”
Tsitsipas has long been hailed as a future star of the sport but has failed to live up to his sky-high potential over the last few years. He is still waiting to win his first Grand Slam title despite reaching two finals and has never reached the latter stages of Wimbledon or the US Open.
The 25-year-old admitted earlier this year that he still has plenty to work on in his pursuit of greatness, suggesting that top players such as Djokovic and Alcaraz are better at managing the physical and mental demands of major tournaments.
“I was close to succeeding in this challenge, I had my chance,” said Tsitsipas when quizzed on what has been stopping him from winning a Grand Slam. “Perhaps what I lacked was energy. I use way too much on a court. If you look at other champions like Djokovic, Federer and even Nadal, they know better how to manage all the effort that a Grand Slam requires.
“The only time in my career when I was smart enough to handle all of this well was at the 2019 Masters [ATP Finals] and I won it. It takes a long time to master this management but I’m still on the right track. I haven’t given up yet.”
