ATP Miami 03/29 15:00 - Daniil Medvedev v Jannik Sinner View

Wikipedia - Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev (Russian: Даниил Сергеевич Медведев, IPA: [dənʲɪˈiɫ sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf]; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and is the current world No. 4. Medvedev has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including the 2021 US Open and 2020 ATP Finals. Medvedev defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final to deny him the Grand Slam. In the latter, he became the only player to defeat the top three ranked players in the world en route to the year-end championship title. He has also won six Masters titles and contested six major finals. His six Masters titles all came in different venues, making him only the sixth player to win Masters titles at six different venues.

Medvedev made his ATP Tour main draw debut at the doubles event of the 2015 Kremlin Cup. In 2017, he participated in a singles major for the first time at Wimbledon, where he defeated world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. In 2018, Medvedev won his first ATP Tour singles titles, and achieved a breakthrough in 2019, making his top 10 debut after Wimbledon and reaching six consecutive tournament finals, including at the US Open. He went on to win the ATP Finals in 2020 and contest two major finals in 2021, winning at the US Open. Shortly after reaching another Australian Open final in 2022, Medvedev became the first man outside of the Big Four to hold the world No. 1 ranking since Andy Roddick in 2004, the third Russian man following Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1999 and Marat Safin in 2000, and the 27th man overall. He then struggled with form and eventually dropped out of the top 10 in rankings, but returned to form in early 2023 and has since reached two more major finals and returned to world No. 3.

History

2015–2016 Early pro career

Medvedev made his ATP main draw debut at the 2015 Kremlin Cup, partnering Aslan Karatsev in the doubles event. The two defeated Aliaksandr Bury and Denis Istomin in the first round but were defeated by Radu Albot and František Čermák in the second round.[]

Medvedev at the 2015 Nice Open

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 (in Georgia, U.S.) 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. After that, Medvedev said Young and French were friends. As both parties are black, he was disqualified mid-match for allegedly 'question[ing] the impartiality of the umpire based on her race'.

2017 First ATP final

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 advanced 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. At the Aegon Championships, he advanced to his first ATP 500 quarterfinal by beating Nicolas Mahut and Kokkinakis in the first two rounds, before losing to the No. 6 seed, Grigor Dimitrov, in the quarterfinals. One week later, he on grass advanced to the semifinal of Eastbourne International, losing to Novak Djokovic.[]

Medvedev registered 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. He lost in the next round to Ruben Bemelmans. Medvedev was handed three fines totaling $14,500 (£11,200) 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.

Medvedev serving at the 2017 Queen's Club Championships

2018 First ATP titles

Medvedev started the 2018 season by qualifying for the Sydney International. He reached the final which he won against Australian 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.

In August, Medvedev won his second ATP title at the 2018 Winston-Salem Open after defeating Steve Johnson in straight sets.[] In October, 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. The victory also marked the third consecutive final that Medvedev had beaten the home favorite in to win the title. Medvedev reached the 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 (38 wins). He also had the most titles on hard court tournaments (3 titles), tying with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov.

2019 Two Masters titles, US Open final

Medvedev started the season strongly by reaching the final of the Brisbane International, defeating Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route, but then lost to Kei Nishikori. At the Australian Open, he was seeded 15th, the first time he was seeded at a major. He reached the round of 16 for the first time in his career, where he was defeated by eventual champion Novak Djokovic. In February, Medvedev won his fourth ATP title at the Sofia Open, beating Márton Fucsovics in the final. The following week, Medvedev lost in the semifinals of Rotterdam to Gaël Monfils. Medvedev entered the Monte Carlo Masters having only won two of his 13 career matches on clay courts. Despite this, he reached his first ever Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the event after defeating world No. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the quarterfinals, Medvedev earned his first triumph over a world number 1 ranked player, when he defeated Djokovic in three sets. His run ended in the semifinals against Dušan Lajović. At the Barcelona Open, Medvedev earned his third successive top 10 victory (this time over Kei Nishikori) to reach his first clay-court final. There, he was defeated by world No. 5 Dominic Thiem. 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 a momentous breakthrough in Medvedev's career, as he reached four tournament finals (in Washington, Montreal, Cincinnati, and the US Open), becoming only the third man in tennis history to do so (after Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi). In Washington, he was defeated by Nick Kyrgios in the final. 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 Rafael Nadal. Medvedev would reach a second consecutive Masters final at Cincinnati after beating defending champion Djokovic for the second time, where he defeated David Goffin in straight sets for his first Masters title.

Medvedev entered the US Open as the world No. 5. In his second round match, he fought off cramping to defeat Hugo Dellien in four sets. He then defeated Feliciano López in a contentious match for which he was fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $4,000 for flipping off the crowd. Medvedev next recovered from a set and a break deficit to beat Dominik Köpfer and reach his first Major quarterfinal. He then beat former champion Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals and Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals to reach his first Grand Slam final. There, Medvedev was defeated by Rafael Nadal in five sets.

Medvedev followed up his success in North America with his maiden title on Russian soil at the St. Petersburg Open, to become the first Russian to win the tournament in 15 years. Medvedev then won a second consecutive title at the Shanghai Masters, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final. By reaching the final, Medvedev became the 7th man since 2000 to reach at least nine finals in a season. He ended the season losing his last four matches, including all three round robin matches in his ATP Finals debut.

2020 ATP Finals champion, third Masters title

Medvedev at the 2020 Australian Open

Medvedev opened his season at the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup as Russia's top ranked singles player. He led Russia to the semifinals, where they were eliminated by the Serbian team after Medvedev lost to world No. 2 Novak Djokovic. At the Australian Open, Medvedev was eliminated in the fourth round by former champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets. During the February indoor season, Medvedev suffered early defeats in Rotterdam and Marseille.

When the season resumed in August after a six-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Medvedev failed to defend his title at Cincinnati Masters, losing to Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals. As the 3rd seed in the US Open, Medvedev reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Dominic Thiem. At the French Open, Medvedev exited the tournament in the first round for the fourth consecutive year, losing to Márton Fucsovics. His struggles with form continued into the October indoor season, failing to string together more than two consecutive match wins in the St. Petersburg Open and Vienna Opens. Medvedev then resurged, winning his first title in a year at the Paris Masters.

At the ATP Finals, Medvedev won all his round-robin matches in straight sets, over Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Diego Schwartzman. Medvedev recovered from a set- and break-deficit to defeat Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, before beating Dominic Thiem in the final, once again coming from a set down. With the victory, he became the first player to have defeated the world's top three players at the ATP Finals, and only the fourth player (after Djokovic, Boris Becker, and David Nalbandian) to have done so at any tournament since the inception of the ATP Tour in 1990.

2021 US Open, Davis and ATP Cups champion

At the second edition of the ATP Cup in February, Medvedev led Russia to the title, going 4–0 in singles. This included 3 top ten victories (over Diego Schwartzman, Alexander Zverev, and Matteo Berrettini) extending his win streak over top 10 opponents to ten wins. Medvedev then reached his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open after straight sets victories over Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, extending his win streak against top 10 opponents to twelve wins, and his overall win streak to twenty wins. In the final, he was defeated by the defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets.

Medvedev won his first title of the season at the Open 13 in Marseille, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final. With the win, Medvedev ascended to world number 2 in the ATP rankings, becoming the first man outside of the Big Four to occupy a position in the top 2 since Lleyton Hewitt in July 2005. On 13 April, Medvedev tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters. At the French Open, Medvedev reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas.[]

With the grass-court season, Medvedev took a wildcard to play in the Mallorca Championships, where he won his first career grass-court title. At Wimbledon, he reached the fourth round for the first time in his career. There, he lost to Hubert Hurkacz in a match plagued by rain delays. Medvedev entered both the men's singles and the men's doubles events at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In doubles, Medvedev and Aslan Karatsev were defeated in the first round by Slovakia's Filip Polášek and Lukáš Klein. In singles, he defeated Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik, India's Sumit Nagal, and Italy's Fabio Fognini to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta. To start the North American hardcourt season, Medvedev competed at the Canadian Open, where he won the title by defeating Reilly Opelka in the final. The following week, he competed at the Cincinnati Masters, reaching the semifinals where he was defeated by Andrey Rublev.

At the US Open, Medvedev dropped just one set en route to his first major title, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final. The final received immense attention, as Djokovic was vying to become only the second man in the Open Era to achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam.

Following the US Open, Medvedev participated in the Laver Cup as part of Team Europe. Team Europe comfortably won the title, with Medvedev winning his match against Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. At the Indian Wells Masters, Medvedev was upset in the fourth round by Grigor Dimitrov. At the Paris Masters, Medvedev reached the final for the second consecutive year, but lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets. In his third ATP Finals, Medvedev qualified for the semifinals after winning all of his group matches. He there defeated Casper Ruud, but lost in straight sets to Alexander Zverev in the final. Medvedev ended his 2021 season by leading Russia to the Davis Cup title, not dropping a set through his five singles matches.

2022 Australian Open final, world No. 1

Medvedev represented Russia in the third edition of the ATP Cup. Russia advanced to the semifinals of the tournament after Medvedev and Roman Safiullin went undefeated in doubles. There, Medvedev won his singles match against Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime, but Russia was eliminated when Medvedev and Safiullin were defeated in the decisive doubles rubber.

In January, Medvedev reached the final of the Australian Open for the second successive year. En route to the final, he beat home favorite Nick Kyrgios, world No. 10 Auger-Aliassime (saving match point), and world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the final, he was defeated in five epic sets by Rafael Nadal despite taking a two-set lead. At 5 hours and 24 minutes, it was the second longest Major final ever played. In February, Medvedev was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year award.

Medvedev entered the Mexican Open with the opportunity to gain the world number 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic. Medvedev reached the semifinals where he was defeated once again by Rafael Nadal in a rematch of the Australian Open final. However, as Djokovic was also defeated in the Dubai quarterfinals being played simultaneously, Medvedev ascended to world number 1 for the first time. Medvedev thus became the first man outside of the Big Four to hold the top ranking since Andy Roddick in February 2004, and the third Russian man to achieve the ranking, following Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1999 and Marat Safin in 2000.

At the Indian Wells Masters, Medvedev lost to Gael Monfils in the third round. The loss resulted in his losing the number 1 ranking, with Novak Djokovic once again taking the top spot. Medvedev had a chance to reclaim the number 1 ranking the following fortnight if he reached the semifinals at the Miami Masters, but fell one match short, losing to defending champion Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.

On April 2, Medvedev announced that he would miss the beginning of the clay court season to recover from a hernia procedure. On April 20, the All England Club announced a ban on all Russian and Belarusian players, including Medvedev, from competing at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Following his recovery from surgery, Medvedev returned to play at the Geneva Open, where he lost his opening match to Richard Gasquet in straight sets. At the French Open, Medvedev was eliminated in the fourth round by Marin Čilić. However, as Novak Djokovic failed to defend his title, Medvedev reclaimed the number 1 ranking.

Medvedev entered three tournaments in the grass court season, Rosmalen, Halle, and Mallorca. At his first event in Rosmalen, he reached the final without dropping a set before suffering a shock loss to world No. 205 Tim van Rijthoven. He then reached the final at Halle, once again without dropping a set, where he lost to Hubert Hurkacz. In Mallorca, Medvedev was defeated in the quarterfinals by Roberto Bautista Agut.

Medvedev started his North American summer hardcourt season by winning the title at the Los Cabos Open defeating Cameron Norrie in the final. In his opening round match against Rinky Hijikata, he recorded his 250th career singles match win. At the Canadian Open, Medvedev, who was the defending champion, lost his opening match to Nick Kyrgios. At the Cincinnati Masters, Medvedev was defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals. Medvedev was yet again defeated by Kyrgios at the US Open, resulting in Medvedev losing his number one ranking.

Medvedev began the fall indoor-hardcourt season by competing at the Moselle Open, where he lost his opening match to Stan Wawrinka in three sets. Medvedev next competed at the Astana Open where he reached the semifinals. In his semifinal match, against Novak Djokovic, Medvedev was forced to retire with the match level at one-set-all with a leg injury. Medvedev returned to play at the Vienna Open where he defeated Denis Shapovalov in the final to win his second title of the year, and second ATP 500 title of his career. Medvedev finished the year on a 4 match losing skid, losing in the opening round in Paris Masters, and losing all three of his round robin matches in the ATP Finals in third-set tiebreakers. This resulted in him dropping to world no. 7 in the year-end rankings.

2023: Three titles and US Open finalist

Medvedev started the season at the Adelaide International where he reached the semifinals, losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Seeded 7th at the Australian Open, he defeated opponents Marcos Giron and John Millman before losing to Sebastian Korda in straight sets in the third round. As a result, Medvedev dropped out of the Top 10 to World No. 12.

In February, Medvedev entered the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam seeded 6th, where he made it to the finals whilst dropping only one set. In the final, he defeated Italian No. 1 Jannik Sinner in three sets, thus returning to the Top 10. The following week, Medvedev entered the Qatar ExxonMobil Open seeded third and won the tournament, defeating Andy Murray in straight sets in the final.

In March, Medvedev defeated No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets in an all-Russian final to win in Dubai his third title in three weeks, and his 18th title overall thus winning titles in 18 different cities and becoming the first man in the Open Era to accomplish the feat. In this tournament, he did not drop a set including his win against No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, snapping his 20-match winning streak. As a result, he moved back to world No. 6 on 6 March 2023.

At the next Masters 1000 Indian Wells Masters he reached back-to-back quarterfinals defeating 12th seed Alexander Zverev. His victories against 23rd seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and 14h seed Frances Tiafoe propelled him into the final. In the final, he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets but reentered the Top 5. In Miami he reached back-to-back finals defeating 14th seed Karen Khachanov and won his 19th title in a 19th different city defeating tenth seed Jannik Sinner in straight sets. He moved to world No. 4 in the rankings on 3 April 2023.

Medvedev began his clay court season at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he reached his sixth consecutive quarterfinal with wins over Lorenzo Sonego and 13th seed Alexander Zverev but he lost to sixth seed Holger Rune in the quarterfinals, ending his streak of five consecutive finals. At the next Masters in Madrid he recorded his 300th win over first-time qualifier and compatriot Alexander Shevchenko in the third round. He lost to qualifier, another compatriot Aslan Karatsev in the fourth round. In Rome he reached the semifinals at a Masters 1000 clay-court event for just the second time (after Monte-Carlo 2019) defeating qualifier Yannick Hanfmann. Next he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach only his second final on clay. He won his first clay title defeating Holger Rune, having won 20 titles in 20 different cities. As a result, he returned to world No. 2 in the singles rankings on 22 May 2023. Medvedev entered the French Open as the second seed but lost in his first round match against Thiago Seyboth Wild.

At the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, he was seeded 3rd and reached the semifinals for the first time at this Major. Following wins over wildcard Arthur Fery, Adrian Mannarino, Márton Fucsovics, Jiří Lehečka, and Christopher Eubanks in a tight five set match, he set up a semifinal clash with Carlos Alcaraz but lost in straight sets.

At the US Summer Hard Court Swing, Medvedev made the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup and reached the fourth round at the Cincinnati Masters, losing to Alex De Minaur and Alexander Zverev respectively. Next, at the 2023 US Open, he reached the final following wins over Attila Balazs, Christopher O'Connell, Sebastian Baez, Alex De Minaur, fellow countryman Andrey Rublev, and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals to set up a rematch of the 2021 final with Novak Djokovic. Djokovic won in straight sets on Sunday, September 10. Due to his US Open run, he was the third player to qualify for the 2023 ATP Finals on September 5. There he reached the semi final before losing to Jannik Sinner in three sets.

At the Asian Swing, Medvedev reached the final of the China Open where he lost to Jannik Sinner in straight sets. At the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters he recorded his 60th win of the season to reach the third round over Cristian Garin, after Carlos Alcaraz did the same.

2024: Third Australian Open final, Open era record

At the 2024 Australian Open he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round from two sets down and recorded the third-latest match finish at 3:39AM in the history of this Major. He then defeated Félix Auger-Aliassime and Nuno Borges to reach the quarterfinals. He then won back-to-back 5-set matches against Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev, coming back from two sets down to defeat the latter, to reach his third Australian Open final. He lost the final to Jannik Sinner in five sets, having led by two sets to love. It was his second loss in the Australian Open final after having led by two sets to love, after his loss in the 2022 Australian Open final to Rafael Nadal, becoming the only man in the Open Era to lose two major finals from a two-set lead. At the end of the tournament Medvedev played four five-set matches in total and set two records, one for the most time spent on court at a Grand Slam tournament with 24 hours and 17 minutes, and for the most number of sets played in a singles major, at 31 sets.