World number five Daniil Medvedev continues his journey at Wimbledon 2024 with a third-round encounter with German Jan-Lennard Struff (41). The Russian is defending 720 points from last year’s semi-final in London this season. And the fight for the fourth round could cause problems for Daniil.
Struff is 34 years old. He has been playing professionally for 15 years, but only in the last few seasons has he managed to get close to the top. Jan-Lennard made his debut in the top thirty in 2020, but then fell out of the top hundred due to injury. The German was finally able to gain a foothold in the top 30 only in the summer of 2023, and this season he managed to win his first title at ATP level (250 series clay tournament in Munich). He is now ranked 41st in the rankings.
Struff started playing tennis at the age of six; his parents introduced him to the sport. Jan-Lennard cites clay as his favourite surface, Roland Garros as his favourite tournament and Pete Sampras as his idol.
Jan-Lennard Struff
Photo: Shi Tang/Getty Images
This year, Struff played on grass in Stuttgart and Halle. At the first tournament, he withdrew due to illness before the quarter-finals, and at the second, at the same stage, in a tough fight, he lost to Jannik Sinner (2:6, 7:6, 6:7). At Wimbledon, before facing Medvedev, he defeated Fabian Marozhan (6:4, 6:7, 6:2, 6:3) and Zhang Zhizhen (5:7, 6:3, 7:6, 7:6). He will not defend any points in London, having missed the tournament last year due to a hip injury.
Medvedev, who has only played on grass this year, has only played at the Halle tournament, where he lost in the second round to Zhang Zhizhen (3-6, 6-2, 6-7). At Wimbledon, Daniil has already beaten Alexander Kovacevic (6-3, 6-4, 6-2) and Alexander Muller (6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5).
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Struff and Medvedev have met six times. The score of their clash: 5-1 in favour of the Russian. The only time Jan-Lennard beat the Russian was in Halle in 2021 (7-6, 6-3) and on grass. However, just two weeks later, at the start of Wimbledon, Medvedev took revenge (6:4, 6:1, 4:6, 7:6).
The last meeting between the German and the Russian took place in the same 2021 Davis Cup season. The Russian then won (6-4, 6-4), although he suffered a nosebleed during the match.
Daniil Medvedev
Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
After winning the second round of Wimbledon, Daniil admitted that he had difficulties serving on grass. “It’s harder to hit the ball on grass because it slides across the court. Novak is very good at this, his serve slides a lot on grass, it’s hard to receive it. But my serve slides hard and my opponents find it hard to accept it. For some reason, on grass, my serve doesn’t slide as well as other players. I work a lot on this, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” the Russian said at a press conference.
Struff may prove to be an inconvenient opponent for Medvedev, as his serve is more reliable than the Russian’s. Despite the fact that the percentage of first hits between the players is almost identical (59% for the German and 61% for the Russian), Jan-Lennard usually serves straight and rarely makes doubles. In 2024, the German player’s statistics for aces and doubles are 312/98, while Daniil’s is 221/154.
The meeting between Medvedev and Struff is scheduled for Friday, July 5. It should not start before 15:00 Moscow time. Follow this and other matches of the “Championship”!
