Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev has been one of the most gripping rivalries in tennis in modern times. The duo have clashed on several occasions with the Russian getting the better between the two, however Sinner is looking to change that. The Italian has enjoyed the better of the clashes in recent times and got the all important Australian Open final win under his belt.
The Australian Open final was a thrilling contest which was worth the money for around 1.1 million people in Melbourne Park. Sinner came back from two sets down to register a famous win and claim his maiden Grand Slam title.
Remarkably, all 10 of the Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev matches have been played on hard courts. Here is how the rivalry has panned out over the years –
2020 – Daniil Medvedev, the self-proclaimed hard-court specialist, dominated the rivalry in its initial stages. The Russian’s peak period began arguably in that year and the first time he took on Jannik Sinner in the indoor hard court tournament in Marseille in the Round of 16. Sinner, at the time, could have pulled off an upset after winning the first set, 6-1. But Medvedev was too senior and strong for him then, clinching the next two sets, 6-1, 6-2.
2021 – The duo clashed again in Marseille, although in the quarterfinals. But the result was the same and Medvedev won in straight sets. The Russian carried that form into the ATP Finals that year, in which Sinner qualified for the first time in his career. In their round-robin clash, the World No.3 bageled Sinner in the first set, 6-0, but had to deal with losing a tie-breaker in the second set, winning a tie-breaker of his own in the third set to survive another big scare.
2022 – Medvedev and Sinner clashed just once, in Vienna in the quarterfinals and the Russian extended his lead to 4-0, winning another match in straight sets.
2023 – This was the year in which Jannik Sinner began the turnaround of their rivalry. Although Sinner did lose to Medvedev in the Rotterdam ATP 500 Open and the Miami Masters at the start of the year, the positives were that both the matches were finals of those tournaments and once again, the 22-year-old was at least competitive in them.
The ever-improving Italian then seemed to crack the Daniil Medvedev code, by hitting back with hard-fought wins in the finals of two ATP 500 tournaments, in Beijing and Vienna respectively. This gave him the confidence to overpower the big-hitting Russian in the semifinals of the ATP Finals in Turin in front of his home crowd, winning a cracking 3-setter which nearly 6 million people in Italy watched on television.
2024 – After winning the Australian Open final in another cracking comeback, Jannik Sinner in his speech, gave a classy reply to Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev, in his speech prior to that, taunted Sinner for his win and challenged him that he will take the Grand Slam from him in 2025. Sinner said that he was looking forward to the challenge and only wished the best for Medvedev, which prompted the Russian’s face to go small live on national television. That moment could fuel this rivalry for years to come.
Daniil Medvedev leads the head-to-head 6-4 but Jannik Sinner is the main man in form in this rivalry as of February 2024. Andy Roddick believes that the duo will form the ‘Big 2’ of tennis after Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic follow Roger Federer into retirement, thereby officially ending the ‘Big 3’ era.
