Troubadours of the courts, lovers of the yellow ball, knowing the world of tennis, take out the cellos and unanimously sound the horn for the tsar. The future new king of world tennis: Daniil Medvedev.
Character and ambition worthy of a Czar,
In the middle of the 3rd round of the US Open 2019, when he was booed by the New York public against Feliciano Lopez, the 1m98 giant let go without a shot: “ The more you whistle at me, the more you give me ‘energy for the future’. Yes. Daniil Medevedev is hot-blooded, a secretion that may be unavoidable in order to forge Dantesque ambitions and give himself the means to tame them or even to trivialize them. In any case, propelled from 20th to 4th place after a memorable 2019 punctuated by the coronation in Cincinnati and Shanghai in Masters 1000, a first Grand Slam final (US Open and the loss of the game’s win against Nadal in five sets), the Moscow native had since started a royal march. Like communicating vessels, it is crowned by his rank of 4th best player in the world in the ATP ranking that Medvedev completed the year 2020 by earning the Rolex Paris Masters and the London Master in his pocket. Lightning before genius. Between 2020 and 2021, he will garner an impressive series of 20 victories including 12 against the Top-10 including the aesthetes: Nadal and Djokovic. Shadow on the board in this fabulous journey intended to hoist him on the roof of the world, a stinging setback against the same Djoko in the final of the US Open. Never mind. From now on, the podium of the ATP ranking was his game bag. He had just integrated it that he was already squinting explicitly on the number spot. For Russian, being number 3 is good, but it’s not the pinnacle, the ultimate achievement, the absolute holy grail. And he was not born to remain confined to supporting roles. He has the aggressiveness, the talent, the mentality and the game to sit in the front row and make it his favorite bed and breakfast.
“I don’t know if I will become number 1 in my life or not. But I’m going to do my best in training and on the pitch to try to take the most points and, at some point, become number 1. My ambition has always been to give everything I can and to see until. where it could lead me ”.
Roland-Garros, the sesame that escapes the most French of Russians,
At 18, Daniil Medvedev left his native Russia and moved to Cannes for his professional debut. Trained by Jean-René Lisnard, he subsequently joined the staff of Gilles Cervara, his coach for so many years now. He has now lived in Monte-Carlo for more than five years. Better, he is no less a poor speaker of the language of Molière. This means that the world number 2 is the most Frenchie of Russians, but he does not deny his origins. “I always say that I have a Russian character and mentality. I have a lot of respect for France, it is thanks to a French coach and an education in tennis in France that I became a great player. My whole team is French, they know how to work well and what to do to get to the top. But I am still very Russian. As soon as I come back to Moscow, I tell myself that this is home. ” However, this more than legitimate demand for ‘Tsarian’ sap does not water down or elude a black spot that imposes itself as a gray in the triumphalist march of Medvedev. The current number 2 at the ATP had never until the 2021 edition won a match at Roland Garros. After four morbid and unsuccessful participations, the 5th will be the right one with a lost quarter-final against the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipas. He can therefore now aim higher to finally write a golden line on the pages of the Porte d’Auteuil. He owes it to himself and to the country which equipped him and in which he perfected his art.
March 2021, an entry through the great gate of history,
The news fell like an earthquake. On the Richter scale, magnitude 6.0, the world number 2 position acquired by Gilles Cervara’s colt on Sunday March 14, 2021 shook the tennis microcosm and shook many certainties and sheared a hierarchy that has become traditional for many years. That day, by beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final of the Open 13 Provence in three sets, composting the 10th trophy of his career, the 25-year-old Russian ended a historic hegemony, 15 years old. and during which, the domination of the ‘Big Four’ in the first two places in the world had been unchallenged. The last to be embedded in this circle, which had become very closed, was Lleyon Hewitt, who became world number 2 in the summer of 2005. Amazing. Indeed since July 25, 2005, the first two places of the ATP ranking had been thus monopolized by four players: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. In other words, Daniil Medvedev did not come on vacation or on a tourist visit. And this sufficiently demonstrates all the boy’s potential and especially his grandiloquent ambitions and the boldness with which he adorns himself so as not to make his dreams of number 1 a pious or muddy aspiration.
More NextGen sphinx than ever?
With the end of careers of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or even Novak Djokovic which are piling up with giant strides, we will no longer talk about NextGen since this generation qualified according to is already taking power and tasting the flavor. from the throne. This is all the more true for Daniil Medvedev more than ever incontestable spearhead of the generation born after 1995. Alone, the world number 2 has already played as many finals as all his little comrades put together. And as if that were not enough, he is the only one to date to have gone as far as the final consecration by offering himself the scalp of his majesty Novak Djokovic. The latter is also one of the most expansive in terms of ode to the benefit of the Muscovite Francophile whose rise to power leaves him terribly admiring.
“There is no flaw in his game. He has a big serve, he moves very well for his size. His forehand and backhand are very solid. Forehand on the move, or at half court, he’s made a lot of progress on that. It makes you play, over and over again. His defense and ground coverage are fantastic. He has also become much more aggressive, no longer hesitates to come and finish at the net. He’s a complete player, always trying to maximize his potential. ” He said on November 07.
If the ” Nole ” is also a censor towards his now main challenger, it is because in many respects there is Djokovic in Medvedev. Better, if this “ great rivalry ” which moves between the two men is relished with relish by the Serbian, it is because it serves as a boost, adrenaline and above all as an indescribable source of motivation not to sleep on its laurels and continue its conquest of history; conquest which he will never tire of as long as he has not widened the gap in terms of grand slams won in front of his eternal rivals: Nadal and Federer.
There is nothing suspicious for a competitor of the ilk of the native of Belgrade to have the feeling that in front of him, there is no one capable of keeping the competition and of giving back to the spirit of competition. his letters of nobility and that, ‘the bear of Moscow gives him back’. “Daniil is getting closer to the number 1 spot. I’m sure he will reach it and when he does, it will be well deserved, because he is the leader of this generation. Then, he’s a smart guy and a good guy. ” Vibrant tribute.
???? Marseille title today
???? World No. 2 tomorrowNot a bad few days for @DaniilMedwed! pic.twitter.com/ROLGS2boFp
– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 14, 2021
Champion status ???? pic.twitter.com/dMbePkgano
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2021
Medvedev has 14 titles to his credit including 4 in the Master Series for 9 finals lost. We can rightly already profess it and proclaim it with enthusiasm. World tennis will have a new king by then and if the main interested party continues its current momentum, perhaps it will not touch the top of these illustrious predecessors but it will engrave in stone that an athlete of the yellow ball from Russia marked its time and made its name immortal.
Aremou Rare
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