Preparations for Rogers Cup have been well underway in the past few days but one particular practice session that caught everyone’s attention was between Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. Two rivals hitting the ball in a training session is not unheard of but a fairly rare instance nonetheless when the two players are the top favorites for a title.
If the two are to meet in the Toronto Masters, it’ll happen in the title match seeing as they are the top two seeds with Novak Djokovic absent. Naturally, if they were to practice together, it makes sense to do so before the event starts rather than during the tournament. On his part, Medvedev was impressed with just how quickly Alcaraz recovered from his flight to Toronto and enjoyed his session with the Spaniard but has also admitted that it won’t happen too often.
Daniil Medvedev impressed with Carlos Alcaraz’s recovery
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the Toronto Masters, Daniil Medvedev commented on his practice session with Carlos Alcaraz. Asked what the session and the atmosphere was like, Daniil only had good things to say about his rival. The Russian expressed his admiration for Carlos’ ability to play tennis just a day after flying in.
“Yeah it was a great practice. The thing is that’s where we see that he is…I mean he’s such a talent. He came the day before the practice. So he literally flyed(sic) in and then played the set with me and I felt like he played great. Maybe a few mistakes here and there because of what I’m talking (Carlos having landed just a day prior).”
Medvedev also suggested that the fact that Alcaraz was able to acclimatize so quickly and play a set of tennis points towards the talent that he has, citing his own first training session with Davidovic Fokina as an example.
“I practiced with Davidovich Fokina the first day I came and we were just dead. It’s so tough to hit the ball because the jet lag is there even if six hours is not a huge difference but still you’re tired, your body is tired after the flight. So It’s tough to hit through the ball and stuff like this. You miss a lot. So that was not a good practice…it was good to get into it but we would not be able to play a set like he did (Alcaraz). So you see which talent he has.”
Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz won’t practice together too often
Elaborating further on how important it is to spend time on a court practicing with a rival, Medvedev suggested that while it has happened before and he enjoyed it and it helped him, he does not foresee it happening too often. The reason being that they are rivals and are expected to meet in the semifinals and finals of any events they participate in and so it wouldn’t make sense to practice too often together.
“With Carlos we practiced…where did we practice once? I think we practiced this year somewhere but anyway…yeah probably Indian Wells? Anyway it doesn’t matter. It was a great practice and for sure we’re not gonna practice too often because hopefully we can play, you know, finals, semifinals or more to come. Two times this year already so usually you don’t practice every day with your rivals but it can happen once, twice, three times per year. But again, it was a great practice, I think we both enjoyed it so let’s see how often we practice together.”
The top two ranked players at the Toronto Masters have a tough draw ahead of them if they are to set up a clash amongst themselves for the title. Aclaraz has names like Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner to get through while Medvedev will have to beat the likes of Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz.
