Daniil Medvedev has described his rise to world No.2 as ‘great for self-esteem’ following his triumph at the Open 13.
The 25-year-old has become the first player outside of the prestigious Big Four to break into the world’s top two since Lleyton Hewitt back in July 2005. The Big Four is made up of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. In the updated standings on Monday Medvedev overtook Nadal and is currently on 9940 points. Although his tally is still more than 2000 points less than that of world No.1 Djokovic.
“I am really happy. I knew that I would become No. 2 no matter what on Monday,” Medvedev told reporters in France.
“It is always better when you step up the rankings when you do something great.
“I know that winning here didn’t give me the points to become No. 2, but it is great for the self-esteem that just before becoming No. 2 on Monday, I win a tournament.”
On the eve of his rankings milestone Medvedev clinched his 10th ATP title at the Open 13 in Marseille after beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in the final. He has now won 14 out of 16 matches played so far this year with his only losses being to Djokovic at the Australian Open and Dusan Lajovic in Rotterdam.
Medvedev still has a way to go if he wishes to rise to world No.1 in the future. No member outside of the Big Four has held that position since Andy Roddick on February 1st 2004. This week Djokovic is spending a record 312th week as world No.1 and his Russian rival says he is capable of reaching 400 weeks. Although Medvedev is going to try his best to prevent that from happening.
“The way he’s played, he’s definitely capable of catching 400 weeks,” he recently said.
“We’re going to try to not let him do this. I didn’t manage to do anything in the Australian Open final, but that is what sport is about. Nobody is going to give him an easy pass, he’s going to have to earn it.”
Medvedev is not playing any tournaments this week and will return to action at the Miami Open.
