After reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second time in his career, where Daniil Medvedev, like a year ago, was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz, the Russian went to the Olympic Games in Paris. In the French capital, the 2021 US Open champion in singles was eliminated in the third round, and in mixed doubles and doubles – at the start of the competition. Now Daniil will have to focus on his favorite American “Masters” and the TBS in New York. Medvedev’s first start will be the “thousand” in Montreal. The material on the official website of the ATP Tour briefly summarizes the current results of the 28-year-old tennis player this season, as well as the athlete’s own memories of the Canadian Masters, which is very significant for the first racket of Russia.
In the 2024 season, the focus has been on Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. Sinner won his first major at the Australian Open to complete his rise to number one in the ATP rankings, Alcaraz has triumphed at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and Djokovic has just claimed his first gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
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But Daniil Medvedev has had a quietly steady season. The former world No. 1 is fourth in the race for the Finals and is entering what has historically been his best form of the season.
Seeded third at the Montreal Masters, the 2024 Australian Open finalist and 2024 Wimbledon semi-finalist will attempt to win his first title this year.
“I think the thing about my seasons is that often when I come to a competition in Canada, everything that happened before doesn’t really matter. Because this is usually my best part of the season. To be honest, I’m really happy with my season. I got some good results and I also got some really exciting wins. What I don’t like in a way is that I don’t have a title yet in 2024, but I’m playing. [хорошо] at the biggest tournaments and lost to a number of big guys,” the Russian is quoted as saying by the official ATP Tour website.
Daniil Medvedev
Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
It cannot be said that Medvedev has not managed to make great strides in the tournament rankings this season. The 28-year-old has the following win-loss record: 35-11. This year Daniil reached the finals in Melbourne and Indian Wells.
Medvedev will be confident knowing that it was in Montreal that he reached his first Masters final in 2019. Last year, Medvedev had a memorable second half of the season, winning 29 of 32 matches. It all started in Washington, where Daniil reached the final. Then the Russian went to Canada.
“You have to hurry up, you have to pack your things. The next day you already need to prepare for the match. I was playing against Kyle Edmund, who was doing very well at that time, and I knew that the first fight would not be easy. But I immediately felt very, very good and managed to beat the Brit with an easy score. Everything went well and I managed to play quite well,” Daniil admits.
Medvedev did not drop a set to his opponents on the way to the final, defeating Edmund, Kristjan Garin, Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov. Only one of the eight sets played by Daniil against this quartet ended with a score of 6:3. In the end, the Russian’s tie ended in the title match against Rafael Nadal, which he won 6-3, 6-0.
“I played with Rafa and unfortunately at that time it was too difficult for me, there was too much pressure. I remember that every match was different, but I played great tennis and I felt that my game was excellent. This was the first time I reached the Masters final, so it gave me confidence,” Medvedev added.
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When the Russian arrived in Canada five years ago, he was world number nine. By the end of this period, it was clear that he was on his way to the top and, upon reflection, Daniel realised this.
“100%, because before that I knew I could play well, but I still couldn’t achieve serious results. It was during this period that I reached the Masters final for the first time, won the next tournament in Cincinnati and reached the US Open final. It was amazing. It was kind of the first tournament, along with Washington, where I also played well, where I began to understand even better what I had to do on the court to beat the guys above,” Medvedev says.
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Daniil is happy to be back in Montreal, on hard courts, and start fighting for the title. The third seed, who will miss the first round of the tournament, will battle it out with his doubles partner Roman Safiullin or Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina in the second round. For the 20-time winner of the ATP tournament, it is the start of his attempt to end the season on a high note.
“I will definitely try to hold on until the end of the year, I will definitely try to get a major title and score as many points as possible, because that is always important. The higher you finish in the ATP rankings at the end of the year, the more it shows how great your season has been. So I am quite happy with the season, but I definitely want more,” Medvedev said.
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And in a press conference dedicated to the upcoming start of the Montreal Masters, the 2021 US Open champion mentioned the return of light balls to the circuit.
“I think it’s definitely helpful for the guys that have it, it’s not a problem, but they’re weaker when it comes to generating power… so for me this ball is amazing so far, I feel really good with it.
I didn’t play with balls like that for three or four years, because when I was playing in the Challengers and when I first came to the ATP, I remember there were always Wilson US Open balls. And then they started to get heavier.
For example, last year in 2023, in my opinion, there were only heavy balls, only heavy, heavy balls, I had problems with my shoulder and elbow, so I really like the current balls, but, again, it’s always the same with the balls: some players like them, some hate them. I can only say that I love them and I hope there will be more dances like that.”
The Montreal Masters will be played from August 6 to 12. Follow all the events of this ATP-1000 tournament in the “Championship”.
