Daniil Medvedev’s rocky relationship with the clay hit an all-time low at the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
The world No.10 entered his first tournament of the season on dirt with recent runs to the Dubai title in February and then the final in Indian Wells last month. He also won the Brisbane International at the start of this year.
However, Medvedev was unable to replicate any of that sort of tennis during his crushing 6-0, 6-0, loss to Matteo Berrettini in what is the heaviest loss of his career on the Tour. The Russian produced only two winners against 28 unforced errors and five double faults. Furthermore, he could win only four out of 21 points behind his second serve.
Clay has been a troublesome surface for Medvedev, who said in 2021, ‘there’s nothing I like on clay.’ Since then, he has won a Masters title on the surface at the 2023 Italian Open.
“It’s the same as every year: sure, my practice sessions on clay weren’t the best, but let’s just say I didn’t lose a single set in practice—6-0—so I don’t really understand what happened,” Medvedev said during an interview with Russian YouTube Channel Bolshe!.
“I just couldn’t get a grip on anything: hitting the court, getting my serve in. In practice, I was serving well, so it’s unclear what happened. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
During his nightmare 49-minute Monte Carlo match, the former world No.1 lost his cool and ended up destroying his racket out of anger. Smashing it on the ground seven times before finishing with it. An action that resulted in him receiving a code violation from the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It was hard to try anything because, basically, I could barely get more than two balls in a row into the court,” he said of his performance.
“You can play aggressively, you can play defensively, but if you can’t even get the ball in the court, it doesn’t matter how you play—it won’t help.”
The problem now for Medvedev is to work out how significant his thrashing by Berrettini is. Was it a bad day at the office or a serious wake-up call for the upcoming tournaments?
“I don’t see any reasons yet. I don’t even know if it’s worth looking for them or if it’s better to just forget about it and get ready for the next tournament,” Medvedev admits.
“Obviously, you have to try to analyze something, but is it worth getting deep into the details… And why?
“It’s one thing when you lose, say, 6-3, 6-3, and try to figure out what you could have done better. But when the score is like that, you could have done better in every single aspect. So I don’t know if there’s any point in breaking it down.”
Medvedev is currently coached by former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson and the very experienced Rohan Goetzke. Goetzke was the person who coached Richard Krajicek to the Wimbledon title when he was unseeded.
His win-loss for 2026 currently stands at 19-6.
