After a solid past three months on the Tour that has seen him re-enter the world’s top 10, Daniil Medvedev is hoping to continue his surge on a surface that has brought him trouble in the past.
The former world No.1 is seeded seventh at the Monte Carlo Masters, which will be his first clay event of the year. He has won only one out of his 23 ATP titles on the dirt, which was the 2023 Italian Masters in Rome. At the French Open, he has won fewer matches than any other Grand Slam, with his best result being a run to the quarter-finals five years ago.
“For me, it’s not super easy to change surfaces, so I would prefer to have some time,” Medvedev said during an interview with ATP Media.
Medvedev has had longer to prepare for the clay than initially anticipated following his third round loss to Francisco Cerundolo at the Miami Open. However, this is only a minor setback in what has been a solid first quarter of the season for the Russian. He was runner-up to Jannik Sinner in Indian Wells and won the Dubai Tennis Championships.
“Of course I’d prefer to be playing in the final of Miami, but if you lose early at least you have time to prepare for clay physically. That’s important for me as I don’t feel natural on clay,” he continued.
“All [surface transitions] are tough, even going from grass to hard. But what makes it tougher to come to clay is that from the beginning of the US summer last season to the end of Miami you’ve been on hard courts and that’s a lot of time. Your body and mind… I start feeling like a hard court and you have to change that.”
Monte Carlo was the first Masters 1000 tournament Medvedev played in his career, which was back in 2016 when he lost in the qualifying rounds. Since then, his best runs were to the semi-finals in 2019 and the quarter-finals in 2023. Overall, he has a 10-6 win-loss record at the event.
Whilst his tennis on the clay might be patchy at times, the 30-year-old does have the weapons to challenge the best in the world.
“I’m third in the Race (to Turin) and feeling happy with my game,” he said.
“With my game and my shots, I’m not someone who can play bad and win matches. So to win a lot of matches I need to play well. So if I’ve won a lot of matches, it means I’ve been playing well.”
According to his ATP profile, Medvedev currently has a 45-35 win-loss record at clay court events played at the Tour-level.
