ATP Madrid: Medvedev rants, wins and keeps his chance at number 1
Daniil Medvedev reached the round of 16 with a hard-fought match at the ATP Masters tournament in Madrid.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 06, 2021, 06:51 pm
That the clay court is not Daniil Medvedev's preferred playground: he mentioned several times. "There's nothing I like about this rubber. The ball bounces differently, you're very dirty after the games. I really don't enjoy playing like that," said Medvedev about the red ash a few weeks ago. He also doesn't think anything will change here, he said before the tournament started in Madrid. "I think my punches, my movements and my physical demeanor don't match Ashes. I hated everything around me for the first week on clay. I just hate being on the court. It's very rare for me . "
This hatred doesn't seem to have vanished yet. Medvedev beat his opponent Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 4: 6, 6: 4 and 6: 2 on Wednesday afternoon - but after a violent up and down. Set 1 did not go according to the ideas of the man from Russia, which he made no secret of. After losing the first round, Medvedev sat on his bench and moaned: "I don't want to play on this surface!"
Medvedev: "I can't break a bad topping"
When Medvedev angrily maltreated the court with his bat and was asked by the referee to stop, otherwise he would damage the court, he countered: "It's already broken. It's a bad surface. I can't damage a bad surface." A legal delicacy, of course, that we want to leave that way.
After the match, Medvedev was particularly dissatisfied with himself and his poor breakdown chances, especially in the first set. "After that I managed to play better. In the end it was a good match."
In any case, Medvedev is through, in the round of 16 he meets Cristian Garin, who beat Dominik Koepfer 6: 3 and 6: 4.
Medvedev has a chance of first place in the world rankings
Medvedev has thus also preserved its chance to jump to the top of the world rankings. Should he win in Madrid or Rome and reach the semifinals at the other tournament, he would be the new number 1 in the world - should Novak Djokovic not at least reach the final in Rome. The Djoker is not at the start in Madrid. "I like the tournament, even if I may never tear anything," said Medvedev, but reluctantly.
It is clear that he would have to improve significantly for this - and maybe even feel something like clay court love. After all, his streak of six defeats in a row on clay has now come to an end.
The entire men's draw at a glance
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