"I couldn't move": Daniil Medvedev sheds light on his misery after Cincinnati Open second-round exit

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has admitted that he does not have answers for his poor form. The 29-year-old suffered a shocking defeat in the second round of the ongoing Cincinnati Open with a score of 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. It was Medvedev’s 15th defeat in 40 matches this season, but the result would have hurt him the most.

The reason is that Medvedev’s favourite surface over the years has been the hard court, and it is the time of the season when he usually hits his peak. The defeat on Sunday was not the first incident in which Medvedev has struggled this season. It has been two years since the former US Open winner has won a tournament. This year, Medvedev has featured in 17 events at the highest level but has only managed to play in the final on one occasion.

That outing came at the Terra Wortmann Open in June, where he lost to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6. Since then, Medvedev has featured in four events and has not been able to get past the quarterfinals stage. His next outing after Halle was Wimbledon, where he lost to Benjamin Bonzi in the first round with a score of 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.

After that, Medvedev went to Washington, where his journey ended in the quarterfinals of the DC Open after losing to Corentin Moutet with a score of 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev’s last competition before arriving in Cincinnati was at the Canadian Open in Toronto, where he lost to defending champion Alexei Popyrin with a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. These results have also impacted Medvedev’s rankings, as for the first time since 2019, he is now placed outside the top-10 in men’s tennis.

After losing the match on Sunday, Medvedev spoke to the media and shared his perspective about where it is going wrong. Medvedev admitted that during the match, he found it hard to compete ‘physically’ which was a real shame for him. Despite all of that, Medvedev expressed optimism that he will be able to find the solution to his problems sooner rather than later.

“Yes, it was very difficult physically,” said Medvedev. “Unfortunately, in such conditions, physics takes over. Now I no longer have the shots that saved me before. In the second set, I had chances. In the third, I couldn't move. It's a real shame, it's a difficult time. In tennis, all that's left is to look for a way out. For now, I haven't found it. Apparently, I'm far from it. But one day, I will find it.”

Talking in detail about where he went wrong, Medvedev stated that it is not clear to him why he has struggled so much this year. He also indicated that he is looking forward to implementing more things that he has discussed with his team in future competitions. Medvedev also stated that he is still looking to give his ‘best’ and ‘enjoy’ on the court because the hard-court season is long.

“It’s very tough in tennis, because I could find 10 reasons and I would not know which one is the main reason,” said Medvedev about his form. “Whatever we do, we just try to improve. So we sat down with the team: Where can we do things better? What can we change? We discussed some things and I’m going to try and implement it. This is the most exciting part of the season, there is hard courts until Miami next year. So I will try to give my best and enjoy it. It’s an opportunity, I want to take it as a challenge of trying to raise my level in the big occasions, trying to go step by step.”