World number five Daniil Medvedev continues to chase his Olympic dream. The 2021 US Open winner has already won two matches at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, dropping just seven games in total. To win a medal at the Games, fourth-seeded Medvedev needs to win three more matches: the third round, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals or the third-place match.
On Wednesday, July 31, Daniil will face the world number 19, Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded number 13, in the round of 16. The match between the Russian and the Canadian was played on the third most important court, the Simone Mathieu, where there is no roof. And the weather forecast for this day is not very good, so changes in the schedule are possible. However, by default we will assume that the match, which is scheduled to start at approximately 16:00 Moscow time, will take place.
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Daniil Medvedev – Felix Auger-Aliassime – 7-0
In personal meetings, Medvedev has an overwhelming advantage. Felix has never beaten Daniil, having suffered seven defeats. In these fights, the Russian won 17 sets and lost only three. Experts estimate his chances at about 64 to 36. But this does not mean that this time it will be easy for Medvedev as well.
First of all, all previous matches with Auger-Aliassime were played on hard court, Daniil’s favourite. He doesn’t like clay very much. This year the Canadian seemed to remember that he knows how to play on it. At the Madrid Masters he reached his first 1,000-metre final, where he lost to Andrey Rublev: 6:4, 5:7, 5:7.
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Secondly, in one of the previous matches with Felix, Daniil was on the verge of defeat. In the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2022, Medvedev lost the first two games, saved a match point and won a super-voluntary victory: 6:7 (4:7), 3:6, 7:6 (7:2), 7:5, 6:4.
Before the new meeting, the Russian recalled that match and at the same time stressed that the statistics of personal encounters mean little. “In a way, it doesn’t mean anything. But it means that I like to play with him, but he doesn’t like to play with me. It’s just logic. Each match is a separate story. In Australia he had a match point against me. Let’s see what happens,” Daniil said in an interview with “Championship”.
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Medvedev also complained about the “strange” schedule. His second-round match against Sebastian Ofner finished late in the afternoon local time, and the third-round match was scheduled for the next day at 15:00 Paris time. “Was it hot? Very hot! It’s too early to play tomorrow. The ITF is famous for this, of course. The ATP is trying to adapt, but here the schedule is strange. Svitolina finished last night, she played early today. We’ll see how I recover,” the Russian said in an interview with the Championships.
And he described the balls that the tennis players play with as great, unlike those at Roland Garros: “Every day here I feel how terrible the balls are at Roland Garros itself. I can’t recommend them to any fan because they hurt my elbows and shoulders. When they are heavy, the topspins and slices fly into the net. So everyone adapts as best they can. People play well when we watch the final, but this year the level was average if you watch it on television. The balls here are great, they don’t hurt at all, it’s great to play.”
Daniil Medvedev at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The heat, by the way, became a big problem for the tennis players on the day before the match. This was stated in an interview with the Championship by Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider, who won the doubles match.
Andreeva: Yesterday I said that I don’t care. But today I really felt it. Specific sun. Schneider: Plus the iron chairs give off a specific vibe. Unfortunately, the sun can’t be turned off. Andreeva: Yes, yes, we still didn’t know how to hold an umbrella properly. Even the judge had to help.
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And the British Jack Draper said that he had to drink “boiling water” – the bottles were so hot! “Physical preparation played an important role, but I told the referee that it is very bad that the players have to drink practically boiling water when we play in such hot conditions. It is important that we have good refrigerators where the water stays cold. It is very difficult to recover in such conditions.
There is no way out of the heat, not even when changing sides. I have not played in hotter conditions than this. The body really starts to fight against you. We should not waste time filling up the water bottle, but sit down and rest. “I think it is really bad that they put players through that on the pitch,” Draper told the Daily Mail.
Tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
If Medvedev beats Auger-Aliassime, he will face either Norwegian Casper Ruud (6), ranked ninth in the ATP rankings, or Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, the world’s 26th player, who beat Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals in Umag a few days ago. Experts estimate Ruud’s chances at 65-35, so let’s start with him.
Daniil Medvedev – Casper Ruud – 3-0
As with Auger-Aliassime, statistics can be deceptive. Yes, in the first three head-to-heads Medvedev did not give Ruud a single set, but they had never played on clay. But it is on this surface that the Norwegian is most formidable. This spring he won two titles: the 500 in Barcelona and a junior tournament in Geneva. Not to mention the fact that Kasper has twice reached the final of Roland Garros (2022, 2023). During his career, Ruud won 12 titles, 11 of them on clay.
Daniil Medvedev – Francisco Serundolo – 0-0
Medvedev has not yet played Serundolo, but the Argentine is also very strong on the slowest surface: the classic South American clay court. Francisco had just won the tournament in Umag and was on a six-match winning streak before the encounter with Ruud.
If we look a little further ahead, to the next semi-final, then at this stage, if Medvedev makes it, the Russian’s opponent will most likely be four-time TBS champion Carlos Alcaraz. We would like it to be Safiullin, but Alcaraz, who is also playing with Roman today, objectively has a better chance. We will still have time to talk about this possible confrontation, as long as Daniil wins at the Olympics. We believe in our boy!
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Well, the tennis semi-final itself is not a guarantee of a medal, unlike the same Olympic boxing, where both losers in the 1/2 finals receive bronze. The great Novak Djokovic, after winning bronze in Beijing 2008, twice finished fourth at the Games. In 2012, Novak lost to Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the match for third place, and in 2021 to Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. In the same 2012, Maria Kirilenko had a similar fate, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals and to Victoria Azarenka in the match for bronze. Finally, not more than three years ago, Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina, who performed in doubles, took an offensive fourth place.
