Daniil Medvedev clinched the tenth title of his career last Sunday at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, taking with him the added satisfaction of overtaking Rafael Nadal in second place in the world rankings.
The young Russian has racked up a lot of points over the past 52 weeks and is now just 2,135 points behind world number 1 Novak Djokovic. The Moscow tennis player also hoped to win his first Grand Slam at the start of 2021, but his race ended in the final against Nole.
Medvedev, who many favored on the eve of the final act at Melbourne Park, took a big hit that sapped his confidence. After Rotterdam’s misstep, with behavior bordering on unsportsmanlike, Daniil made up for it last week, even though he did not offer his best tennis.
During a press conference in Marseille, Medvedev was asked about the possibility of ousting Djokovic from the top of the table. On the other hand, Gilles Cervara’s protégé has very few points to defend on clay and grass, not having obtained great results in the first half of 2020.
Daniil also placed emphasis on Roger Federer’s return to the pitch.
Medvedev on the return of Roger Federer
“I don’t know if I will become No. 1 in my life or not,” said Daniil Medvedev.
“But I’ll do my best in training and on the pitch to try to take the most points and at some point become number 1” Daniil Medvedev also spoke of Roger Federer’s return after a year off .
Roger Federer is one of the very few players who could have made the task of coming back from a critical injury seem child’s play, according to the 25-year-old. “In the locker room, we said that when you come back after more than a year of absence due to injury, you are normally not able to place the ball in the court and you just lose in consecutive sets”, Medvedev said.
“But it’s Roger!” If Daniil Medvedev was passionate about his defense of the “Next Gen”, he was also happy to have written a page of tennis history on Monday.
The Russian has come a long way since last year, winning titles in the 2020 Paris Masters, the 2020 ATP Finals, the 2021 ATP Cup and now the 2021 Open 13 Provence.
After his victory in Marseille, the Russian said it was more satisfying to reach this milestone after doing “something big” “I am really happy,” said Medvedev.
“I knew I would become # 2, but it’s always better when you move up the rankings when you do something big”
–
