No other ATP star has had a more disappointing beginning to the North American Swing than Daniil Medvedev. Due to his embarrassing losses in back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 titles, Medvedev has also been responsible for making Felix Auger-Aliassime’s recent predictions go wrong.
Ahead of the US Open series, a few players were asked for some of their predictions. In this segment, these players had to reveal a name who they thought would be a potential winner for the consecutive ATP Masters 1000 tournaments – the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open.
With nobody expecting Alexei Popyrin to emerge victorious, every prediction was wrong. However, Auger-Aliassime’s pick let him down completely.
The Canadian backed Daniil Medvedev to achieve this feat considering that he came close to accomplishing it in 2021 – winner of the Canadian Open & semi-finalist at the Cincinnati Open.
“I think Medvedev has done it or almost done it before, so he’s been playing well again,” Auger-Aliassime predicted.
It seems as though the 2024 Olympic bronze medallist jinxed Medvedev. Right after the video was uploaded on the ATP Tour’s YouTube Channel, Medvedev suffered a humiliating opening-round loss against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Canadian Open 2024.
Merely a week later, the Russian suffered a worse opening-round loss at the Cincinnati Open 2024, going down to Jiri Lehecka in straight sets.
The 24-year-old’s “bold prediction”, when asked by the interviewer, was that he would lift the Canadian Open 2024 trophy. The emotional connection with his home tournament made him believe that he could win the tournament.
“The bold prediction would be to win in Montreal. I’m extremely motivated for this tournament. Everybody knows what it means for me to play in Montreal and it’s really where I grew up, it’s kind of the fifth slam for me, in my career,” he predicted.
It almost seems like a trend that the player Auger-Aliassime displays his confidence in, ends up losing the opening round. Unfortunately, the World No.19 would fail to achieve his own goal. He would suffer a loss worse than he could imagine – 3-6, 2-6 against Flavio Cobolli in the first round.
The only prediction of FAA that can still possibly be fulfilled is regarding Tommy Paul “surprising” the tennis world in the US Open 2024. However, with Paul sustaining a second-round loss in Montreal and a first-round loss in Cincinnati, it seems as though FAA is in for a disastrous third prediction as well.
