Medvedev's resilience in face of Grand Slam losses and his new partnership with Simon

ATP
Monday, 26 February 2024 at 23:00
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Daniil Medvedev recalled the defeat in the 2024 Australian Open final against Jannik Sinner and stated that it was 'easy' to overcome. According to the Russian, his reaction was different from the one he had in the loss to Rafael Nadal two years earlier.

The former world No. 1 has suffered painful losses in Grand Slams. Medvedev reached three finals in the US Open and another three in the Australian Open, although he only secured the title in the 2021 US Open against Novak Djokovic (6-4, 6-4, 6-4).

Particularly memorable for fans is the 2022 Australian Open, where he fell to Nadal despite being two sets ahead and a break up in the third set. However, the Spaniard staged an incredible comeback and claimed his 21st Grand Slam. This year against Sinner, he again was two sets up but couldn't close the match, and the Italian ultimately took the title.

Medvedev acknowledged that this time he quickly got over the result: 'To be honest, 'get over' was quite easy. As I said after the match, I felt like it would be easy because I played a great tournament, I played a good final,' he stated.

New partnership with Gilles Simon

Medvedev will return to the court for the first time since the final in Melbourne, as he skipped the title defense at the Qatar Open last week due to physical issues. However, he is now back at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he will debut on Tuesday against Aleksandr Schevenko.

The 28-year-old tennis player comes with changes to his team by adding former world No. 6 Gilles Simon to his coaching staff, joining his coach Gilles Cerbara: "I thought about Gilles Simon for many different reasons. He knows tennis well. You can see it. He was able to beat me and make me feel not good on the court," he said.

"Together the two Gilles could discuss what was he doing to make me in trouble, and what can we do in practice to work on it. So far I really like it. We share a little bit the same mentality. We're easy-going."

The Russian tennis player commented that a rough patch in Grand Slam tournaments made him refocus before Wimbledon last year, but in smaller tournaments, he didn't feel at his best:

"Other tournaments, except Grand Slams, I didn't manage to find exactly the fire which you need to win the tournaments because you're going to play the best players in the world," explained the former world No. 1.

"That's what I want to try also to work on this year, to have this ability to be able to give my thousand percent like I did in Grand Slams, but also to be able to be fuelled enough in other tournaments. That's the first one where I start tomorrow," Medvedev concluded.

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