Coaches Corner, Part 2: How do you play successfully against Daniil Medvedev?
Professional tennis coaches see more - which is why we simply ask how to play against the big players in the industry. In part 2 of our series, the Adidas scout - and coach Mats Merkel analyzes the US Open finalist of 2019 Daniil Medvedev .
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Apr 12, 2020, 09:47 am
Anyone who, like Mats Merkel, has been a Scout for Adidas for many years will see most players who finally make it onto the ATP or WTA tour at a very young age. Be it the Orange Bowl, the Eddie Herr International Junior Championship or the tournaments of Tennis Europe. But Merkel also has to deal professionally with the adults: be it as a companion of Dominic Thiem or, even during his time in Adidas, by Andy Murray. Of course, Mats Merkel also followed Daniil Medvedev's rise closely.
These are the special strengths of Daniil Medvedev
Ultimately, tennis is still a "Numbers Game": If you play the ball once more than your opponent, you actually win the point. Nice and fast to play, chopping the forehand down the line at 400 km / h, that's great - the only question is, how far can you get with it? Constancy is always more important than speed. And if you bring consistency and speed like Daniil, that's a good thing.
Daniil is totally difficult to play and serves incredibly well. It is even easier to pack on sand because its surcharges are less effective. But also there you have to say that he played a good clay court season with the final in Barcelona in 2019.
In appearance, he doesn't have to be everybody's darling.
How do you play successfully against Daniil Medvedev?
Speed change, spin change - sometimes a slice in the fore corner, which turns away to the outside. Many players don't like that, and Daniil is no exception. The question with him is how he can endure this physically. I don't think he will playfully push his limits. Because if he had technical weaknesses, as he sometimes claims, you could have exposed these weaknesses long ago.
You have to return a lot of premiums against Daniil very early. At 15:30 or 30:40 or when the player opens, he always has certain patterns where he serves. And then you just have to play things back in the field in God's name, no matter how. In the rallies you have to slow down against Daniil. And, as I said, especially in his forehand you have to play a lot of balls that have a lot of backward twist, i.e. undercut.
Then to play the next ball really quickly. Or, if Medvedev himself slices with the backhand, you have to be quick and chop the ball into his forehand. So that he can get going. But: Daniil is a counter puncher, has an extremely long range and likes to play out of the barrel. That saw in the last year: How many "shots of the week" Medvedev hit there from the run, somehow still whirled the ball in.
Daniil Medvedev in numbers (statistics refer to the last 52 weeks)
| birthday | Overall tournament wins | Tournament wins 2019 | Tie-break success rate | Aces per match | Games won as a kickback |
| February 11, 1996 | 7 | 4 (Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Cincinnati, Sofia) | 66.7% (ATP rank 5) | 9.0 (ATP rank 17) | 27.2% (ATP rank 6) |
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