Medvedev gives insight into his rise to the Top 10: "Off the court I would not do the right things"

After reaching his maiden Grand Slam final at the 2019 US Open (lost to Nadal), the 24-year old has since been firmly entrenched in the Top 5. However, the Russian admits to facing numerous roadblocks early in his career prior to his breakthrough last season.

"There was always a little bit of a fight between my father and my mother. My mother wanted to study more." says Medvedev in an interview with Behind The Racket. "I was in school, while playing tennis until I was 18. In Russia most professional athletes are done studying around 12 years old. It might have been the reason I wasn’t as good as my friends for some time, but I have no regrets."

Medvedev admits that there were numerous matches where lost but all he could focus on was the monetary reward. Furthermore, it began to dawn on him how difficult it would be to switch from the juniors to the pro-level.

"I started to quickly understand, after playing futures, just how difficult it would be to get from 700 to 300 in the world. You needed to save as much money as possible while trying to win five or six Futures as possible”, recalls Medvedev.

He went on to disclose that he lacked a professional approach to tennis off the court, a trait that persisted even after he broke into the Top 100. He finally decided to change his perspective after reaching his maiden ATP final at the 2017 Chennai Open (lost to Bautista Agut).

"Even after reaching the top 100 for the first time, I knew deep down I was not professional. When I was on court I would give 100%, but off the court I would not do the right things.

I went to bed late, play hours of Playstation and just not worry about the right things. From 70 to 5 in the world was the jump where I really decided where I really decided to dedicate everything to tennis. I wanted to find my limits. I know people say there are none, but I want to test myself and test mine. That was the moment for me,” says Medvedev.

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