What a battle this was ⚔️ Remembering when Daniil Medvedev saved two match points against Sinner to secure a spot in the 2021 #NittoATPFinals semi-finals. #NittoATPFlashback | #partner
"You need to be at your absolute best": Daniil Medvedev names Jannik Sinner as 'the big one right now' to beat
ATPFriday, 01 March 2024 at 00:00
Daniil Medvedev considers Jannik Sinner the significant rival to beat currently. The young Italian is undefeated in 2024 with a record of 12-0 in the season, having won 32 of his last 34 matches.
Undoubtedly, Medvedev and Sinner have built up a significant rivalry since their first match in 2020. The Russian claimed victory in the initial six encounters, but the Italian deciphered Medvedev's game and emerged victorious in their last four meetings.
Moreover, five of their matches took place in finals (3-2 in favor of Sinner), including the 2024 Australian Open, where Sinner secured his first Grand Slam title. Medvedev commented on the challenges involved in playing against Sinner:
“He just plays better. Maybe the first match in Beijing [in October 2023] when he managed to beat me for the first time, he mixed up some things comparing to before. Then in the next matches I just feel like he plays better than before,” he said.
“Before the matches were tough when I won them, but he could miss here and there, break point, miss a first serve, a forehand straightaway. Now it doesn’t happen anymore. Even if he does, he’s going to make a good shot. For me that happened. He just started playing better,” former world No. 1 claimed.
“Mentally, I honestly don’t feel like I’m scared or anything like this. It’s just you know before the match it’s a tough match. He’s playing very good,” Medvedev added.
“You need to be at your absolute best. All the shots have to be perfect to try to win the match. Even that could be not enough, like it was in Australia. That’s a force that big tennis players have, and he’s definitely the big one right now.”
Medvedev was asked about the loss in the Australian Open final, where he was up two sets. Sinner managed to come back from what seemed like a lost battle to claim the crown with a score of 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. It is the second time Medvedev has suffered a similar fate in Melbourne, as two years earlier, he witnessed Rafael Nadal's epic comeback that resulted in Nadal taking the title 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
“For sure I’m still disappointed because that one was close. Closer than the Jannik match," Medvedev expressed. “Also mentally with the crowd and this and that. Somewhere in the match I really felt like I’m there, not that I have to win it, but I was really close in my mind.”
“Not sure it’s even a lesson. I would prefer not to have this lesson. But in life not everything goes as you prefer. So this happened. I have to go on from it. I would say I hope that it was a lesson and I can take anything from it. Even if not, I just have to forget it and go.”
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