“He ran out of fuel,” Giles Cervara on what went wrong with Medvedev at the Paris Masters Final


“He ran out of fuel,” Giles Cervara on what went wrong with Medvedev at the Paris Masters Final

On Sunday, in a rematch of the US Open finale, Daniil Medvedev met Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Rolex Paris Masters 2021. Medvedev came into the tournament as the second seed and defending champion, but failed to repeat his feat from the Flushing Meadows. Novak Djokovic, determined to not lose again to his recently gained rival, won the match 4-6 6-3 6-3, picking up his 6th title at Bercy.

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After the tournament, Medvedev’s long-time coach Giles Cervara spoke to the media and placed his opinion on various topics pertaining to the week.

Giles Cervara, 40, is a French tennis coach. He has been a coach since 2007. Since 2017, he has been a part of Daniil Medvedev’s entourage. The duo has had a successful pairing, with the Russian picking up 13 titles in the last 4 years. These include the ATP Finals in 2020 and the US Open in 2021. For his service, Cervara was chosen by his peers as the ‘Coach of the Year‘ in the 2019 ATP awards.

“You are faced with your doubts,” Giles Cervara on the start of the tournament

Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev

Speaking of his coachee’s performance during the opening rounds with Lequipe, Cervara said “Entering a tournament is always the unknown … You are faced with your doubts, you have to rebuild new certainties for the tournament and it can be fluid or laborious, it depends on a lot of things. This is a bit like what happened in this tournament. It was neither good nor bad. Just enough to be better than the opponent”.

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“Daniil loves adversity,” Giles Cervara on French crowd during Hugo Gaston match

Giles Cervara, along with Daniil Medvedev holding the Paris Masters 2020 trophy

In the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 2021, Daniil Medvedev faced Frenchman Hugo Gaston. “The match against Hugo is special, you know you’re ‘stronger’ on paper but a match in this context is a trap … Daniil wins the first set by miracle (7-6) and inevitably it unlocks the rest. Concerning the public[the French crowd], personally I loved living it. We were ready to be shouted, ready to receive tomatoes on the face. Daniil loves adversity. And me too…” the coach added.

Giles Cervara: The Finale and Novak Djokovic

Of the epic finale and the eventual winner Novak Djokovic, Cervara said “Well done Novak. I found it much more solid than in New York. Fortunately, we won the final that we had to win (smiles). Daniil is doing well in the 1st set because he saves 2 break points at 2-3 and raises his level to dominate Novak. Novak seems very relaxed, yes, but I’m never surprised with him.

I just think he felt dominated and that’s a way of turning his back on what’s going on. To then recover from the start of the second set. At the start of this round, there was another important moment that could have passed for Daniil. Same for 3rd. I think he ran out a bit of fuel to be more precise, cooler to hold even more against Novak at this level”.

Also read: “I’m being my own coach again this week,” Emma Raducanu is positive about the coaching situation for the Australian Open”

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