Daniil Medvedev wasn’t interested in sugarcoating anything after being destroyed by Jannik Sinner in the Miami Masters semifinal as the Russian admitted that he pretty much didn’t do anything well on the court.
Medvedev, who returned to Miami as the defending champion this year, saw his run of nine consecutive Miami wins end on Friday after No. 2 seed Sinner handed him a 6-1 6-2 defeat.
Medvedev got off to a very slow start to the match, suffering back-to-back breaks and losing the opening five games. Medvedev managed to finally get on the board in the sixth game but it didn’t change much when it comes to the outcome of the first set as the Italian routinely served out for the opener in the following game.
After easily winning the first set, Sinner also started the second set with a 2-0 lead before claiming his fourth break of the match in the fifth game and sealing the win on his serve in the eighth game.
During the match, Medvedev created a total of three break points but didn’t convert any – he missed out on two break points in the third game of the first set and one more break point in the fourth game of the second set.
“He played good. I didn’t play well enough. And again, there is not much — you know, we could speak for hours here, but in the end I didn’t play good enough, he played good, he won easy. That’s the end of the story, to be honest,” Medvedev said in his press conference.
Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner© Getty Images Sport – Al Bello
Medvedev: My tactic wasn’t the problem, my execution was
In this year’s Australian Open final against Sinner, Medvedev stepped out of his comfort zone and came out playing very aggressive tennis. That style of play resulted in Medvedev taking a two-set lead before Sinner created a major comeback to beat the Russian 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 and win his first Grand Slam title.
For their Miami match, Medvedev prepared similar tactics hoping being aggressive would lead him to success. But Medvedev’s tactics didn’t work early on in the match and he later switched on to his usual counteroffensive style of play.
However, when asked about his tactics, Medvedev said the initial tactics weren’t the issue but he just did a poor job of executing them.
“No, I kind of tried to — because I think the tactics I used at the beginning of the match were not the problem. The problem was the execution, too many mistakes. Yeah, not enough precision,” Medvedev explained.
“So for sure after a match like this, I’m asking myself if I should have changed it earlier, but I stuck to what I thought was going to work, and I wanted to do it better and I didn’t manage to do it. When I changed, it was just too late.
“So, no, when I have the next match against him, I’m gonna see what I do and how I develop.”
Daniil Medvedev© Getty Images Sport – Brennan Asplen
Medvedev on his title drought
Between 2023 February and May, Medvedev made six finals and won five titles to improve to 20 titles. But since winning his first title on clay in style at the Rome Masters, the 28-year-old Russian hasn’t won any titles.
But it’s not that Medvedev has been far away from winning titles but it’s just that he has gone 0-5 in his finals played post-Rome. In those five consecutive finals losses, Medvedev was three times beaten by Sinner and he also lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 US Open final and to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Indian Wells Masters final.
When asked if he is concerned about not winning a title since last May, Medvedev underlined that he has been focused on playing only the biggest events lately but also noted that he is having a difficult time beating the top players and that he needs to analyze that and see how he can change that.
“Well, it depends, because I’m trying, you know, to play the best tournaments in the world. I think if we look tournament by tournament, you know, I’m losing against big players,” Medvedev said.
“I have been in some finals and I lost against Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz, and for sure I want to beat them and, let’s say, be better than them. But I didn’t manage to do it and I have to work on it either mentally or tennis-wise.
“You know, for example, on clay I’m going to play Monte-Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Roland Garros. It might be tough to get a title there, but, you know, yeah, if I would play ten 250s a year, I’d probably get some titles. Never be too confident, but I’m sure I would be able to, but I’m trying to play the best tournaments in the world.”
Daniil Medvedev© Getty Images Sport – Cameron Spencer
In Monte Carlo – which is set to be Medvedev’s first clay tournament – the Russian achieved his best result in 2019 when he was a semifinalist.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login