‘If I didn’t believe I could win Roland Garros, I wouldn’t be competing,’ says Daniil Medvedev
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Daniil Medvedev
World No.2 Daniil Medvedev has been experiencing a very poor run on the clay in 2021. After reaching the finals of the Australian Open earlier in the year, the Russian tested positive for Covid-19 before the Monte Carlo Masters. Since then, Medvedev hasn’t been at his best.
The 25-year-old has prematurely exited tournaments in Madrid and Rome, owing to which he has played only three matches on the dirt till now. Medvedev was also seen complaining about the surface and how he dislikes playing on the same.
With just a win on clay in the run-up to the French Open, Medvedev is surely not in the greatest form. However, he spoke to championat.ru, explaining how he would like to turn things around in Paris. “When I said my goal is to win one match at the French Open, I was joking! My real goal is to win the title. Otherwise I would not be competing.”
Medvedev to be seeded higher than Nadal at French Open
Although the former US Open finalist will be seeded higher than the 13-time winner Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, one wonders if the Russian can make any impact on the tournament at all. It is further interesting to note that Medvedev has never managed to get past the first round at the French Open in the last four attempts.
Former clay expert Alex Corretja, who made two finals at the French Open believes that Medvedev should stop making his dislike for the clay obvious and rather focus on his strengths.
“The first thing he needs to do is to stop saying I don’t like the clay. It sounds like even though he doesn’t like it that much, he can always say clay is not my best surface,” the Spaniard told Tennishead.
“Secondly, if I was his coach I would say ‘okay you don’t play as well on clay as you do on hard courts but you are still very competitive, you are a great competitor, you have a good serve and your backhand is good enough to hurt the opponent’.”
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Vivek Krishnan
(767 Articles Published)