Daniil Medvedev


Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev is a Russian professional tennis player. Medvedev has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4, achieved on 9 September 2019. He has won seven ATP singles titles, including two Masters 1000 titles.
Medvedev achieved a breakthrough in 2019, when he reached six consecutive tournament finals, including one at the 2019 US Open and three at Masters 1000 events.

Early and personal life

Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev was born on 11 February 1996 in Moscow to Sergey Medvedev and Olga Medvedeva. He has a younger sister named Elena. It was his father who encouraged him to take tennis seriously at the age of six.
Medvedev studied applied economics and commerce at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, but dropped out to focus on tennis. With his family he moved to Antibes, France where he trained at the tennis academy. As a result of living mostly overseas, Medvedev can speak French and English fluently, besides his native Russian.
Medvedev married his girlfriend in Moscow on 12 September 2018.

Career

2015–2016: Early pro career

Medvedev made his ATP main draw debut at the 2015 Kremlin Cup, partnering Aslan Karatsev in the doubles event.
As a qualifier, Medvedev made his ATP singles main draw debut at the 2016 Nice Open, losing to Guido Pella in three sets. Three weeks later he earned his first singles ATP World Tour win at the 2016 Ricoh Open, defeating Horacio Zeballos in straight sets.
Medvedev was disqualified from the second round of the Savannah Challenger event for comments he made after the umpire ruled in favor of his opponent. Medvedev thought he had won a break point against his opponent Donald Young's serve, but chair umpire Sandy French ruled that his returning shot had gone out. Medvedev said Young and French, who are both African-Americans, were friends. He was disqualified mid-match for allegedly 'question the impartiality of the umpire based on her race'.

2017: First ATP final and maiden Grand Slam match win

In January 2017, Medvedev reached his first ATP singles final. In the final at the Chennai Open he lost to Roberto Bautista Agut in two sets. As a result, Medvedev jumped 34 positions from 99 to 65 in the ATP rankings, a new career-high. In February, he continued his good form when advancing to the quarterfinals of both the Open Sud de France and the Open 13, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille respectively.
In June, he made it to the quarterfinals of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, defeating the 6th seed, Robin Haase and Thanasi Kokkinakis before losing to Ivo Karlović in straight sets. In the Aegon Championships, he advanced to his first ATP 500 quarterfinal by beating Nicolas Mahut and Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first two rounds, before losing to the No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals. One week later, he kept up his good form on grass by advancing to the semifinal of Eastbourne International against Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev would register his maiden Grand Slam match win at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, defeating fifth seed and world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the first round in four sets. Subsequently he lost in the next round to Ruben Bemelmans. Medvedev was handed three fines totalling $14,500 for his conduct during the match with Bemelmans: $7,000 for insulting the umpire on two occasions and $7,500 for throwing coins under the umpire's chair.

2018: First ATP titles

Medvedev started the 2018 season by qualifying for the Sydney International. He reached the final which he won against Alex de Minaur. The final was the youngest ATP Tour tournament final since 2007, when a 20-year-old Rafael Nadal defeated a 19-year-old Novak Djokovic in the final of Indian Wells. It also was the tournament's youngest final since 1989.
Medvedev later reached the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open, losing to Andreas Seppi in three sets.
In August, Medvedev won his second ATP title at the 2018 Winston-Salem Open after defeating home favorite Steve Johnson in straight sets. Medvedev won his first ATP 500 and third career ATP title in Tokyo as a qualifier, overcoming Japanese star and No. 3 seeded Kei Nishikori in straight sets in the final. This triumph brought him to a new career high ranking of No. 22 and made him the No. 1 player in Russia.
In October, he continued his good form, reaching the 2018 Kremlin Cup semifinal, losing to his countryman and eventual champion Karen Khachanov. One week later, he made the semifinals at the ATP 500 Swiss Indoors event, which he lost to Roger Federer. After the tournament, he achieved a new career high ranking of world No. 16.
Medvedev finished 2018 with the most hard court match wins of any player on the ATP Tour. He also had the most titles on hard court tournaments, tying with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov.

2019: Two Masters titles, US Open Final, Six straight finals

Medvedev started the 2019 season strongly by reaching the final of the Brisbane International. He defeated three former top five players on the way to the final, Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, where he lost to Kei Nishikori. At the Australian Open, Medvedev was seeded for the first time in a Grand Slam event. He reached the round of 16 for the first time in his career where he was defeated by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets. In February, Medvedev won his fourth ATP title at the Sofia Open beating Márton Fucsovics in the final in straight sets. The following week, Medvedev lost in the semifinals of the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam against Gaël Monfils.
Medvedev entered the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters having only won two of his first 13 career matches on clay courts. Despite this, Medvedev reached his first ever Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the tournament after defeating world number 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round. In the quarterfinals, Medvedev earned his first triumph over a current world number 1 ranked player, when he defeated Djokovic in three sets. His run ended in the semifinals against Dušan Lajović in straight sets. The following week at the Barcelona Open, Medvedev earned his third successive top 10 victory to reach his first ATP Tour final on clay. In the final, Medvedev was defeated by world number 5 Dominic Thiem in straight sets.
Following his victory over Nishikori, Medvedev experienced a five match losing streak, including an opening round defeat at the French Open. He returned to form on the grass courts of Queen's Club, reaching his sixth semifinal of the season where he lost to Gilles Simon. Medvedev made his top 10 debut after reaching the third round of Wimbledon.
The North American hard-court swing proved to be another turning point in Medevdev's career, as he reached four tournament finals, becoming only the third man in tennis history to do so. Medvedev started the swing by reaching the final of the Citi Open, where he was defeated by Nick Kyrgios. He followed this up with a strong performance at the Rogers Cup, reaching his first Masters final after beating top 10 players Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov. In the final, he was defeated by defending champion and top seed Rafael Nadal. Medvedev would reach a second consecutive Masters final at the 2019 Western & Southern Open after beating defending champion Djokovic for the second time. In the final, he defeated David Goffin in straight sets for his first Masters title.
Medvedev entered the 2019 US Open as the world number 5 and one of the leading contenders to end the dominant streak of Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer at Grand Slam tournaments. In his second round match, Medvedev fought off cramping to defeat his opponent Hugo Dellien in four sets. He then defeated Feliciano López in a contentious match for which Medvedev was fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $4,000 for a visible obscenity. He then recovered from a set and a break deficit to beat qualifier Dominik Köpfer and reach his first Major quarterfinal. In the quarterfinals, he beat former champion Stan Wawrinka in four sets to become the first player representing Russia to reach the semifinals of a Major since Mikhail Youzhny at the 2010 US Open. Additionally, the victory earned Medvedev a place at the ATP Finals. He became the first Russian man to qualify for the Finals as a non-alternate player since 2009, when Nikolay Davydenko won the title. Medvedev reached his first Grand Slam final after beating former No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals in straight sets. In the final, Medvedev was defeated by Nadal in five sets.
Medvedev followed up his success in North America with his maiden title on Russian soil at the St. Petersburg Open by defeating Borna Ćorić in the final to become the first Russian native to win this tournament in 15 years. Medvedev then won a second consecutive title at the Shanghai Masters, defeating Alexander Zverev in final. By reaching the final, Medvedev became the 7th male player since 2000 to reach nine or more ATP tournament finals in a season. Medvedev's form cooled off after electing to have a two week break following his Shanghai victory, withdrawing from scheduled events in Moscow and Vienna. He ended the season losing his last four matches including all three round robin matches in his ATP Finals debut.

2020

Medvedev started the season at the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup. As Russia's top ranked singles player, he led his nation to the semifinals where they were eliminated by the Serbian team. Medvedev finished the tournament with a 4–1 record in singles matches with his only defeat coming in a highly competitive three setter against World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. At the Australian Open, Medvedev was eliminated in the fourth round by Stan Wawrinka in five sets.
At the Rotterdam Open, Vasek Pospisil defeated Medvedev in two straight sets, in the first round.

Playing style

Medvedev is a 6’6” tall baseliner. He possesses superior lateral movement, quickness and lung capacity for a player his height and length, enabling him to excel from the back court. His game is centred on remaining un-attackable in long baseline rallies due to his long, flat, low bouncing, and penetrating groundstrokes. His superior shot tolerance allows him to draw opponents into long rallies and wear them down with continued deep balls, and occasionally attack off an eventual short ball from his opponent.
His best shot from the baseline is his backhand, which he hits with depth, pace and precision, and he is able to redirect this shot down the line for winners. He is a capable defender for his height, and is able to absorb pace with his deep court positioning and quickness from left to right. His forehand has an unorthodox motion; it has a proper racket head lag, but a quick slapping motion and follow through. This allows him to generate easy pace off that shot. He also possesses a very powerful and accurate serve, winning him many free points. His first serve is typically flat and around 130 mph, while his second serves are kickers or sliced out wide, though he is capable of serving flat and accurate second serves as well.
Some points of struggle for Medvedev have been his relative issues with generating quick and easy offence from the baseline and mid-court. Since he lacks a weapon to finish points effectively, he is susceptible to struggles against players who are dynamic and varied on offence. Furthermore, prior to the US Open 2019 final, he was critiqued for his lack of mid-court and net game; this was an area of steep improvement in that final where he serve-and-volleyed and attacked short mid-court balls effectively. He is also an impressively mentally strong competitor, and this is evident in his attitude on the court, playing style, and demeanour in big matches.
With his playing style, Novak Djokovic has described Medvedev as a "very complete" player, the former world's No. 3 Alexander Zverev called him "the best player in the world right now" while Stefanos Tsitsipas described that way of playing as "very boring".

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss2019US OpenHard Rafael Nadal5–7, 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, 4–6

Records

Open Era records

Awards

;2019