“Daniil Medvedev cannot be considered the best player every day” Mats Wilander believes the Russian ‘still has a long way to go’
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Daniil Medvedev and Mats Wilander
Daniil Medvedev broke the dominance of the quartet of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray when he became the first player in 18 years to become the World No. 1 in ATP rankings. Medvedev achieved the feat on 28th February 2022 having trailed as the World no. 2 for almost a year.
While Medvedev would have liked to achieve the feat with a title to his name, he lost in the semi-finals of the 2022 Acapulco Open to Rafael Nadal who got the better of him in straight-sets. However, the run to the semi-finals was enough for Medvedev as Novak Djokovic, who was playing at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships, lost in the quarter-finals confirming that Daniil will be on top of the rankings the following week.
As Medvedev now prepares to start the process of cementing his place at the top, 7-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Mats Wilander had some interesting take on whether the Russian will actually manage to instil fear in his opponents when they will take on the top-ranked singles player in tennis as did the Big-4 when they were at the top.
“I think in Acapulco you can easily explain why Medvedev lost: because of the conditions. And that is his problem. He cannot be considered the best tennis player in the world every day of the year, regardless of the surface and the conditions. When Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic were number one in the world, they were the favorites in all the tournaments they played, whether on hard courts, clay courts or grass. This is not the case with Medvedev. He still has a long way to go,” said Wilander speaking on Eurosport.
Daniil Medvedev won a match at Roland Garros for the first time in 2021
Wilander is not completely wrong if one is to consider the comment he has made. While Medvedev is certainly an absolute force on the hardcourts and not many can get past him easily, the Russian has not shown similar domination on other surfaces. However one can argue that the Russian has improved drastically since 2019 but with the Pandemic halting many events, he could not have a good run on different surfaces.
His best run in Wimbledon came in 2021 when he made it to the 4th round having lost once in the 2nd round and twice in the 3rd round since making his debut in 2017. He reached his first-ever Grass court tournament finals in the 2021 Mallorca Championships which he then went on to win.
At the French Open, he had 4 consecutive first-round defeats before he managed to win his first match in 2021. He however then went on to reach the quarter-finals at the Roland Garros last year improving quite well. He has reached just 1 Tour final on Clay, finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem in the 2019 Barcelona Open. With a massive Clay season coming up, Daniil will have a lot to prove given he is now the top-ranked player.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)