Daniil Medvedev Says 'Change Of Approach' In 2017 Sparked Breakthrough On The Tour - UBITENNIS

Daniil Medvedev Says ‘Change Of Approach’ In 2017 Sparked Breakthrough On The Tour

The world No.5 pinpoints the reason behind his rise on the Tour as he speaks out about the upcoming US Open.

By Adam Addicott
6 Min Read

It was last summer where Daniil Medvedev rocketed up the world rankings but he believes his breakthrough wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t start to change his ways two years prior.

The US Open finalist says his success in the sport is due to a change in his approach back in 2017 where the 24-year-old started to make what he describes as a ‘more professional’ approach. It was during that year where Medvedev broke into the world’s top 100 for the first time in his career, won his maiden main draw match in a Grand Slam and contested his first ATP Final at the Chennai Open in India.

“Starting about three years ago, I decided to be more professional about tennis. Which, of course, I was before – I was already in the top 100 and practising a lot – but outside the court I could go to bed too late sometimes, going out, small details were not important for me,” he said during an Instagram Live interview with Eurosport.
“I thought that didn’t affect my results, but maybe becoming a little bit older and talking with my coach a lot, I decided to give it a go and be more professional, maybe even sacrifice some things that I liked, such as going to the bar for an evening with your friends, maybe two days before a match, just having a good time, going to bed at two in the morning, which is nothing ridiculous, and I think everybody does it in normal life, but I decided that I wanted to be more professional even if that means that I have to go to bed at 11, wake up, get breakfast and stuff like this.”

Medvedev remembers one incident that triggered him to be more committed to the sport was an all-night gaming session he had with friends. Something that led to him doing poorly in a tournament, which he did not mention a name of.

“So my practice was at eight and I fell asleep at breakfast for 20 minutes and then went to practice. The tournament didn’t finish good and, as I said, I completely changed my habits afterwards.” He recounted.

It was last year where the Russian made a name for himself on the Tour by reaching no fewer than nine finals on the ATP Tour. During the North American hardcourt swing he reached back-to-back Masters 1000 finals, winning the Cincinnati Open before finishing runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the US Open. Then in Asia, he clinched his second Masters title at the Shanghai Open. In September he peaked at a ranking high of 4th in what was the highest position achieved by a male Russian player since Nikolay Davydenko back in August 2008.

Like his rivals, Medvedev is awaiting the return of competitive tennis that is set to start in August. There are still question marks looming over the upcoming US Open, which will be played behind closed doors for the first time in history. Some players have said they have reservations about playing in New York due to the pandemic. As for Medvedev, he says he wants to come back ‘as fast as possible.’

“I don’t think we can know what is going to happen in New York at that moment, and as you may have seen, some players are against very strict rules,” he said.
“At the same time, if you don’t have the strict rules, then there is a big chance of us getting infected or something else.
“Just talking about myself, I want to come back on the court as fast as possible and play tournaments, for the fans maybe – first it’s going to be without spectators, but for the fans all over the world in front of the TV, like soccer does.”

The world No.5 is likely to be playing at the US Open if it goes ahead given the large amount of points he will be defending. Although there is yet to be any clarification about the points system and if there will be any changes this year due to the pandemic. However Medvedev says the prospect of playing in an empty stadium in New York will be surreal for him.

“It’s going to be super strange because all of us played junior tournaments or futures, where you play maybe just with your coach and no-one else there. But it’s different, it’s a small court, it’s somewhere indoors in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
“It’s going to be different when you come to Arthur Ashe which fits 22,000 people and there’s only going to be two of your team members. I think the most bizarre thing will be playing night matches actually.”

Prior to the Tour suspension, Medvedev started 2020 with a win-loss record of 8-4 with his best performance being a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open.

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