Daniil Medvedev Explains What He Learns From Watching Other Sports: “I Pay Attention to Mental Details”

Daniil Medvedev will be playing the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time this season. The Russian ace clinched the wins in his previous three rounds in straight sets, defeating Hugo Gaston, Sebastian Gorzny, and Arthur Rinderknech.

He will next be facing home favorite Frances Tiafoe, who beat Valentin Vacherot in straight sets. At the press conference after eliminating Rinderknech, Medvedev talked about what he tries to learn from watching other sports.

Whenever I watch any sport, I try to pay attention to mental details because, you know, it’s the same in all sports. For example, you see a great baseball player who makes, I don’t know, 50 million a year because he’s a great baseball player, and then he goes through a bad patch, can’t hit well, and everyone thinks: ‘Oh my God, he’s done!’, and suddenly, bam!, for a month he shines again and things like that.

Medvedev himself dealt with a slump in form last year. He failed to reach the third round of all four Majors, and in fact crashed out in the first round in Paris, Wimbledon, and New York, before ending his title drought at the Almaty Open.

If we talk about serving and pitching, I think it’s a bit different in structure. So it’s hard for me to relate that exactly. But I would say that the similarity lies in the fact that sometimes the serve fails, even for the best pitchers, and you see a match and it goes wide, they can’t throw the ball in the strike zone.

Daniil Medvedev added

Medvedev holds a 6-1 head-to-head lead over Tiafoe. The lone win that the American ace clinched was in their clash at the 2024 Laver Cup.

They last met in the round of 16 of this year’s Brisbane International, where, after defeating Tiafoe, Medvedev beat Brandon Nakashima in the final. He also won the Dubai Tennis Championships after receiving the walkover from Tallon Griekspoor. But he failed to end his Big Title drought when World No.1 Jannik Sinner beat him in the Indian Wells final.

Daniil Medvedev reflects on his match against Arthur Rinderknech

Arthur Rinderknech has earned a reputation as a giant killer on the ATP Tour, and so many had expected a thrilling match when he walked onto the Grandstand stadium to face Daniil Medvedev. But Medvedev breezed past him with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 scoreline and was happy about his performance.

Today was a great match. Like, if you ask me, out of 10, maybe seven and a half, eight out of 10. I’m pretty rough to myself, let’s say. I know there were a couple of moments where I could be better. But it was a great, solid match where I beat a tough opponent, and I’m pretty happy about it.

Daniil Medvedev said at the press conference

Medvedev has now improved his head-to-head record over Rinderknech to 2-1. The Frenchman was hoping to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the second time in his career. It was here last year that the 31-year-old produced his best Grand Slam performance when he reached the last 16.

In the previous three Majors this year, former World No.1 Medvedev made the fourth round of the Australian Open, the third round of Wimbledon, and suffered an opening-round exit at the French Open.

Medvedev is chasing his second title at Flushing Meadows, as it was here back in 2021 that he won his career’s first Major by defeating Novak Djokovic. He also made the final here in 2019 and 2023, losing them to Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, respectively.

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