Daniil Medvedev lost to Alex de Minaur at the Rogers Cup in what was a surprising result in the quarterfinals. In the post match conference, the Russian mentioned the different balls being used in the tournament and how he believed it suited the powerful players more. However, rather than blaming the different balls, the russian took ownership of his loss and admitted he needed to adapt better, citing Novak Djokovic as someone who has adapted to different changes for the last 17 years.
Novak Djokovic might be a decade senior to Daniil Medvedev, but the duo have had some iconic matches on the biggest stages. Djokovic has been at the top of Men’s tennis for almost two decades now and with a record 23 grand slam titles until his belt already, he is showing no signs of slowing down. Medvedev was full of praise for the Serbian and hoped to ‘keep on winning’ and adapt to the changing game as well as Djokovic has done.
Daniil Medvedev looks to Novak Djokovic for inspiration
Alex de Minaur got the better of Daniil Medvedev in straight sets 7-6(7), 7-5, to reach the semi final of the Rogers Cup in Canada. Talking to the press after the game, Medvedev gave the credit to this opponent but also questioned the use of new balls on tour. The Russian feels that the new balls start to deteriorate after two games and the game tends to slow down.
The Russian also mentioned one example during the match when both the players played long rallies with the new balls, but that was not the case when the ball started to get older. Medvedev thinks that these new ball will help more powerful players like Davidovich Fokina and Carlos Alcaraz and went on to admit that his plan to play aggressively against de Minaur didn’t work out.
“I said before the tournament, I feel like the balls now on tour, I don’t know why, but they get slower everywhere. So every match I saw, and we saw a lot of sensations, in my opinion, it’s because when the ball is slower and it gets dead after two games or whatever. You need to go through the ball and you need to attack it. And every time I tried, I was not doing anything. I am good at these long rallies, so I just had to do it better today. But yeah, was not enough.”
When asked about how tough it is to adapt to these changes in the game, Medvedev was quick to point out how Novak Djokovic has been winning tournaments for almost 20 years and how well he has adapted to the changes. The 27 year old was in awe of the World number 2’s adaptability to the changing balls and courts, and his ability to ‘keep winning’.
“We have guys like Novak. I’m sure that when he started 17 years ago winning Grand Slams, everything was different. The courts, the balls. He was still winning.”
Medvedev optimistic despite defeat
Losing to de Minaur would be a tough pill to swallow for the Russian, as he is a ‘hard-court specialist’. Medvedev has often mentioned how much he loves to play on hard courts and will try to forget about this defeat as quickly as possible. The former US Open champion revealed that he is still optimistic about the season ahead but he would have to play at ‘his best level’ to compete for the US Open Championship.
Irrespective of recent results, Medvedev will go into the final Grand Slam of the year as one of the four favorites to win the title along side Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner. The 2021 champion will hope to replicate his form of few years ago and go all the way in the tournament.
