Danil Medvedev made a major breakthrough during the 2019 summer season, when he won his first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati before finishing runner-up to Rafael Nadal in five sets in his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open. After winning his second Masters 1000 trophy in Shanghai last October he lost all his three round-robin matches at the ATP Finals in London. The Russian player lost to Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round at the Australian Open last January. Medvedev won 59 ATP matches in 2019 and reached the final in six consecutive tournaments.
“The past two and a half years I tried to be really professional in everything I do. I dedicated my life to tennis, the small details. I want to be better. I want to play better. I want to win more matches than I win even now. That’s my goal and that’s what I am working for”, said Medvedev.
Medvedev won his first ATP title in Sydney in January 2018 beating Alex De Minaur in the final. The Russian player led 4-0 in the third set and served for the match at 5-4, but he let both leads slip. De Minaur clawed his way back both times but Medvedev earned another break to win the match 1-6 6-4 7-5.
Medvedev remembered his first ATP title in Sydney in an interview to ATP Uncovered.
“Probably two years before that I would have just said: “I don’t want this anymore”, and I would lose 7-5, but I managed to win it, my first title”.
Since the start of the 2018 season Medvedev has won 110 ATP matches. The Russian star won two more titles in Winston Salem against Steve Johnson and in Tokyo against Kei Nishikori. Medvedev arrived in Sydney two years ago as World Number 84 and improved his ranking to world number 48. In Tokyo Medvedev dropped only five service points against Nishikori.
“I managed to win my first title and I think it gave me a big push in the year. The push was not straight away, but I think this meant a lot for the season”, said Medvedev.
Medvedev will defend his Cincinnati title in New York at the end of August when the ATP Tour resumes after the five-month break. He wants to show that his win was not just luck.
Medvedev is one of the 16 top 20 players on the entry list at the Western and Southern Open, which will be held from 20 to 28 August at the Billie Jean King in New York. Last year Medvedev beat Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and David Goffin in the final.
“Winning so many matches is not just luck. If I would have won one tournament in Cincinnati and then I lost everything in the first round, then we can say: “Okay maybe I was just lucky to be in good shape in Cincinnati. I am happy to maintain my level and hopefully I can do it for many more months and years”, said Medvedev.
The entry list of this year’s Western and Southern Open features more former tournament champions like Rafael Nadal (2013), Marin Cilic (2016) and Grigor Dimitrov (2017) and Novak Djokovic (2018), world number 3 Dominik Thiem, last year’s US Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini, 2019 ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, 2018 ATP Finals champion and three-time Masters 1000 winner Alexander Zverev.
The women’s Premier 5 tournament will feature two-time Cincinnati champion Serena Williams (2014, 2015), Karolina Pliskova (2016), Garbine Muguruza (2017), Kiki Bertens (2018) and Madison Keys (2019).
