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Daniil Medvedev On His Meteoric Rise In Tennis

Published

2 weeks ago

23/03/2020

Daniil Medvedev enjoyed his breakthrough season in 2019 reaching six consecutive finals including his first Grand Slam final at the US Open last September.

During an interview to Behind the Racquet Medvedev talked about the many challenges he had to face in the early stages of his career.

“There was always a little bit of a fight between my father and my mother. My mother wanted to study more. I was in school, while playing tennis until I was 18. In Russia most professional athletes are done studying around 12 years old. It might have been the reason I wasn’t as good as my friends for some time, but I have no regrets. There were matches where I lost and all I was thinking about was the extra 100 dollars I could have made. The toughest period for me was the switch from juniors to pros. I ended at 13 in junior tennis. I started to quickly understand, after playing futures, just how difficult it would be to get from 700 to 300 in the world. You needed to save as much money as possible while trying to win five or six Futures as possible”, said Medvedev.

Medvedev revealed a moment from his past, when he was ranked world number 700.

“I remember talking to Bublik, playing a future thirty minutes away from where I lived in France. I was around 700 in the world and asked him: “How do you even become 300, does it seem impossible ? To this day he remembers that line and will joke when he sees me. “Come on, how did you become 300 ?”.

Medvedev admitted that he struggled to have a professional approach to tennis off the court, even when he broke into the top 100. Only when he reached the Chennai final in 2017 Medvedev decided to devote to tennis.

“Even after reaching the top 100 for the first time, I knew deep down I was not professional. When I was on court I would give 100%, but off the court I would not do the right things. I went to bed late, play hours of Playstation and just not worry about the right things. From 70 to 5 in the world was the jump where I really decided where I really decided to dedicate everything to tennis. I wanted to find my limits. I know people say there are none, but I want to test myself and test mine. That was the moment for me,” said Medvedev.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas: “I will miss Wimbledon and I can’t wait to 2021”

Published

20 hours ago

03/04/2020

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Stefanos Tsitsipas said that the Wimbledon cancellation news was just an April fool after organizers of the famous British tournament called off their Grand Slam event due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and public health concerns.

Tsitsipas made his debut at Wimbledon in 2017 and reached the fourth round in 2018. He lost to Stefano Travaglia in the opening round at Wimbledon last year, but he bounced back winning the ATP Finals in London.

This year Tsitsipas won the Marseille title for the second consecutive year and lost the Dubai final against Novak Djokovic in Dubai. He lost to Milos Raonic in the third round at the Australian Open. At the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup in Australia he beat Alexander Zverev and lost to Denis Shapovalov and Nick Kyrgios.

Tsitsipas was the first Greek player to break into the top 5 and the first player from his country to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in 2019. Last year he scored the biggest win of his career against Novak Djokovic in Shanghai and won three titles in Marseille and Estoril. He finished runner-up to Roger Federer in Dubai and to Dominic Thiem in Beijing.

“I went to bed thinking this was all a bad April fools joke but I woke up today to find that Wimbledon is actually cancelled. I will miss this special event and I can’t wait to 2021. Stay home. Stay sane”, wrote Tsitsipas in a Twitter post.

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Roger Federer: “We experience difficult times, we arise from it strengthened”

Published

22 hours ago

03/04/2020

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Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has confirmed that he is planning to play in Halle in 2021 after the historic German grass tournament was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ATP has extended the suspension of the tour until 13th July. Federer was expected to play in Halle, a tournament where he won ten times and reached 13 finals. He made his debut in Halle in 2000 during his career.

“We experience difficult times, however, we will arise from it strengthened. Already today I am glad and excited about my return to Halle next year. Stay healthy”, said Federer in a statement released on the Halle tournament website.

Federer also won eight Wimbledon titles, which was also called off for the first time since 1945 due to public health concerns due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Angelique Kerber: “I am heavy-hearted about the cancellation of the grass season”

Published

2 days ago

02/04/2020

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Former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber has posted her thought on the Wimbledon cancellation.

“The thought of playing at Wimbledon has always been the biggest source of my motivation. It goes without saying that I I am heavy hearted that the cancellation of the grass court season also means that I won’t be able to play in front of my home crowd in sport unites, in good and bad times. Once this has passed, it may even help us appreciate our everydayday routines and the beauty of our sport even more than before. Thanks to everyone who is working 24/7 to get us through this uncertain time”.

The German player of Polish origin won three Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and at the US Open in 2016 and at Wimbledon in 2018. She won the Olympic singles silver medal in Rio de Janeiro 2016 losing in the final to Monica Puig.

Kerber lost to Samantha Stosur in the first round in Brisbane. Kerber beat Wang Qiang in straight sets in the first round before retiring from her second round match against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska due to a left harmstring injury, after the German player was down a set and a break.

At the Australian Open Kerber beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Priscilla Hon, Camila Giorgi before losing to Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova. She is currently ranked world number 21 in the WTA Ranking.