Daniil Medvedev failed again on clay; In the fourth round of the Rome Masters he lost to Tommy Paul (1-6, 4-6). The Russian thus lost the opportunity to defend his title and lost 900 points in the standings. After the match, Daniil shared his feelings about the defeat and his thoughts about the upcoming Roland Garros.
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Medvedev lost to the American in one hour at the Rome Masters. And again I couldn’t defend my title.
At a press conference, Medvedev admitted that he was disappointed by his result at the Italian Masters.
“It was a tough game. Psychologically I should have played much better. I started to calm down and focus only at the end of the fight, but it was too late. I expected to play better. There is a different court here, different conditions. I couldn’t act fast enough and it cost me the match. I should have done better in this regard. To be honest, I’m disappointed. I wanted to do better here, but I didn’t even come close to the title this time.
What can I say? The more titles I win, the more chances I have of defending one of them. I will try to defend the title in the future. Again, today I should have done better mentally. When I’m not mentally well, like today, I can’t win. That’s the sport.”
Daniil Medvedev
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
At the previous Masters, held in Madrid, Medvedev felt pain in his leg and withdrew from the quarterfinal match against Jiri Lehechka. It is unknown what exactly caused the discomfort (muscle strain or spasm). However, in Rome, Daniel, according to him, felt better.
“There’s a reason I don’t exercise as much these days and it’s because of my body. Now I feel much better than in Madrid. I don’t know why I didn’t make it today. Hopefully I can start practicing pitching again because I used to practice hitting. I hope I can practice more and get back to the service I love. Yes, I had a downturn and it cost me points. I hope I can get them back. Let’s take a look. “I have ups and downs,” the Russian admitted.
Daniil also spoke about the candidates for victory at the next Roland Garros. According to the classification, the Russian was in fourth place.
“I think that if Novak and Carlos play, they will be the two big favorites. They like the land. They won Grand Slam tournaments. But now things are perhaps a little more open than ever. This is also good for me, because I usually don’t play that well at Roland Garros,” Medvedev said.
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The tennis world also reacted to Daniel’s defeat in Rome. The honorable coach of Russia, Viktor Yanchuk, for example, called this result natural.
“In my opinion, defeat is natural. Daniil did not look convincing in this tournament; He could not cope optimally. Still, clay is not the surface of him and so far he has not been able to reveal the best playing skills of him. In addition, he aggravates little, maintains defense, counterattacks, but rarely creates dangerous situations for his opponents,” TASS quotes Yanchuk.
The winner of two ATP singles tournaments, Andrei Olkhovsky, said what may have influenced Medvedev’s failed performance.
“It is a very strange match. Medvedev made many unnatural mistakes and Paul played very consistently, without spikes or dips, as he knows how to do. I think it was due to the fact that yesterday Daniil played a very close and difficult match, which ended late. After these meetings it is very difficult to recover and go out to play in the afternoon session, he practically did not have time to recover,” TASS quotes Olkhovsky.
And Olympic pairs champion Elena Vesnina called the tournament in Rome as training for the next TBS.
“For Daniil, this tournament is special, since it is the only clay court tournament where he managed to win and lift the title. Of course, Daniil wanted and could have played better, but Tommy Paul is playing very well now, this is his best season. One way or another, this is good training for Daniil before Roland Garros. Before the defeat he played two good matches against strong rivals and showed a great game,” Vesnina told SE.
According to the results of the Rome supertournament, Medvedev may drop from the top 4. He will drop to fifth place if German Alexander Zverev wins the Italian Masters.
The Russian’s next tournament will be Roland Garros. It starts in a week, Sunday, May 26. Daniil will have to defend only 10 points in Paris: last season he lost to the Brazilian Thiago Wilde in the first round (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6). Medvedev’s best result at the French Grand Slam was the 2021 quarterfinals.
